FIDE causes massive confusion with the Women’s World Cup participants list

FIDE Women World Chess Cup 2025 is taking place July 5 – July 29 in Batumi, Georgia, and is one of the major events of The Chess Calendar. A total of 107 participants (increased from the initially announced 103 participants) will compete for 691 000 eur prize fund. This is the third edition of the FIDE Women’s World Cup. The first one was in Sochi in 2021 and was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk. The second one was in Baku in 2023 and was won by Aleksandra Goryachkina. Now both of them will participate in the FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup 2025 in Batumi together with a strong field of world’s best players.

The qualification paths for the Women’s World Cup are detailed in the FIDE regulations and the main chess body has been updating the participants list regularly. As of yesterday, 104 of the 107 participants were known – missing only the two FIDE President Nominees and the Hong Kong nomination. Today, FIDE announced the two FIDE President Nominees, leaving out a long list of players including 47 from the World Top 100. The only question remaining was who will play instead of the Hong Kong player.

When the news broke out, OntheQueenside exclaimed, “Vaishali is out of the World Cup!” FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky replied, “Vishali is not out” – a reply that does not coincide with the official information , thus provoking a barrage of questions from the chess community. Sutovsky added, “She makes it by rating.”

No further clarification was provided, and while the fans were wondering weather Vaishali will substitute a player based on rating criteria, or she was a choice for the Hong Kong spot based on rating, a new plot twist appeared. Josephine Heinemann discovered a broadcast on Lichess, titled “WGM Shukhman vs WGM Balabayeva Women’s World Cup Wild Card Match” (follow the games below, bringing more confusion in the mix – why were these players chosen, do they play for the Hong Kong spot or to substitute someone, or is there a wild card player problem to start with.

The confusion brought by FIDE, the lack of transparency, and the messages by the FIDE CEO lacking critical details are far from the transparency standards that are needed for the most important knockout chess event of the year. We continue to follow this developing story.

Update 14:31: Matnadze Bujiashvili, Ann (ESP) – Spain (replaces Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat)

Update 14:35:

Tang, Zoey (USA) – (replaces Pourkashiyan, Atousa)
Osmak, Yuliia (UKR) – (replaces Buksa, Nataliya)

Update 14:38 Sky Xia asked the President of Hong Kong Chess Federation Mr.KK Chan on the topic and he answered, “No one will represent Hong Kong to play, we a female player to play before, but she declined” (more news from Sky Xia here / follow on Twitter/X)