The Armageddon Series: Women’s Week Starts in Berlin on May 8
World Chess continues its Armageddon Championship Series with the Women’s Week, featuring eight of the world’s top female chess players in a high-stakes tournament to be held in Berlin from May 8 to May 14, 2023. This seven-day event promises to be a thrilling showcase of skill, strategy, and nail-biting drama.
The tournament will feature top-ranked players Alexandra Kosteniuk, Humpy Koneru, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Sara Khadem, Nana Dzagnidze, Gunay Mammadzada, Alina Kashlinskaya, and Elisabeth Paehtz. They will battle it out in a double-elimination format with daily matches consisting of two blitz games with the potential for an additional Armageddon game if a victory does not emerge. The competitors will vie for an equal male category prize fund of €50,000 and the two available spots in the Grand Finale, where the qualifiers will battle it out for the €200,000 main prize.
The overarching aim of the week is not only to promote women in chess but to also reinforce our commitment to equality through the fairer distribution of prizes across the men’s and women’s matches. The winners of the tournament will go on to compete against male players, including Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Gukesh D, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov — marking a dramatic, but overdue, moment in the sport’s history.
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, said: “For chess to grow and thrive, it needs to do more to attract female players. Chess remains a male-dominated sport, but World Chess is committed to changing this by promoting and creating welcoming environments where women can also compete against their male counterparts. We are thrilled to have this incredible female line-up at the upcoming Armageddon Week and believe it will be as spectacular and impactful as the plot of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, whilst helping to inspire a new generation of female players.”
The tournament will follow a dramatic format, with a real-time heartbeat display, frantic time controls, calories burned, and breakneck moves all adding to the excitement. Fans can watch the action with cutting-edge analysis by Grandmaster Simon Williams and International Master Jovanka Houska every day at 19:00 CET on over 17 television channels worldwide, as well as on World Chess’ official YouTube channel.
For the first few days, the players were divided into pairs as follows:
Day 1:
Elisabeth Paehtz — Gunay Mammadzada
Sara Khadem — Alina Kashlinskaya
Day 2:
Alexandra Kosteniuk — Humpy Koneru
Bibisara Assaubayeva — Nana Dzagnidze
The pairings will be established using the double-elimination system and will be determined by the results of the previous days.
May’s battle is set to be an unforgettable event for chess fans everywhere. Stay tuned for updates and highlights from the Armageddon Championship Series: Women’s Week, only from World Chess.
Leading partners supporting the Armageddon Championship Series:
Kaspersky is the Official Cybersecurity Partner;
FIDE Online Arena is the Official Gaming Platform;
The it.com domains is the Official Partner.
