Round 1 of the 2023 Women’s Grand Prix is postponed due to internal issues
Yesterday, the third of four tournaments in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022/2023 kicked off in New Delhi, India, with twelve top female players competing for two spots at the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament 2023-24. The first round was supposed to begin today, but has been postponed due to internal issues involving the organising authorities and players.
The 2023 Women’s Grand Prix is one of the most important tournaments of the year as the first two get a spot at the Women Candidates Tournament 2023-24, therefore a chance to become the next Challenger for the World Chess Championship Title.
The tournament features a total of 16 players, and each one of them will participate in three out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played with 12 players round robin, and the first two WGP tournaments, in Astana and Munich, have been completed. On March 24th the third WGP tournament started in New Delhi, India, but the schedule didn’t go as planned as Round 1 has been postponed due to internal issues involving the organising authorities and players.
Nothing is confirmed yet, but Chess-News Шахматы без цензуры tweeted that Zhansaya Abdumalik, and not only her, was not met at the airport by any of the organisers of the tournament, this is why she refused to play in the tournament.
