1999 Women's World Chess Championship

The 1999 women's world chess championship ended after some irritation with former world champion Xie Jun winning the title again .

Interzonal tournament

At the 1995 interzonal tournament, 52 players competed who had previously qualified in regional tournaments.

→ Main article : Interzonal tournament Chișinău 1995

Candidates tournament

The candidates tournament was played as a round-robin tournament, with each player twice against each other. It took place in December 1997 in Groningen . The seven players from the interzonal tournament were joined by the second and third from the previous candidate tournament and the Chinese Xie Jun, who was defeated in the 1996 World Cup fight. 1st and 2nd place in this candidate tournament entitles them to participate in the subsequent candidate final.

Pl.	Surname	1		2		3		4th		5		6th		7th		8th		9		9		total
1.	Alissa Galljamova			0	½	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	+	13½
2.	Xie Jun	1	½			0	½	½	1	½	0	½	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	+	12½
3.	Maia Chiburdanidze	½	0	1	½			½	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	½	1	1	1	+	11
4th	Nana Iosseliani	0	1	½	0	½	½			½	1	1	½	0	½	1	0	1	1	1	+	11
5.	Peng Zhaoqin	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	0			½	0	½	1	½	½	½	1	½	+	9
6th	Alisa Marić	0	½	½	0	0	½	0	½	½	1			½	½	½	1	1	½	½	+	9
7th	Ketewan Arachamia	½	0	0	0	½	1	1	½	½	0	½	½			0	0	1	1	1	+	9
8th.	Pia Cramling	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	0	1	1			0	0	½	1	8½
9.	Nino Gurieli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	0	1	1			1	+	5
10.	Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	½	-	½	-	0	-	½	0	0	-			1½

• Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska abandoned the tournament after 10 out of 18 rounds for health reasons.
• The order of placement of Chiburdanidze and Iosseliani is indicated differently in the sources.
• Alissa Galljamowa, who still played the interzonal tournament for the Ukraine, had meanwhile switched to the Russian association.

Candidate Finals

The candidate final in 1998 was awarded to China. Alissa Galljamowa insisted, however, that half of it should be played in the two players' home countries. The match was then initially rated with a non-fighting victory for Xie Jun.

Polgar disqualification

The world championship fight was originally scheduled for November 1998. World champion Zsuzsa Polgár asked for a transfer because of her pregnancy. She also declined the planned appointment in 1999, citing the insufficient time to recover after the birth of her son and to prepare for the competition. She also complained that the entire competition should be played in her challenger's home country. This time, FIDE did not respond to their demands and restarted the title fight, with the two players who were originally qualified for the candidate finals.

World championship fight

The world championship match was held from July 30th to August 23rd, 1999. The main judge was Ignatius Leong from Singapore , supported by Andrzej Filipowicz ( Poland ). The first eight games in Kazan ended with a tie. In the other games in Shenyang , Xie Jun prevailed and thus regained the world title.

	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	Points
Alissa Galljamova	½	0	1	½	0	1	½	½	0	½	0	1	½	0	½	6½
Xie Jun	½	1	0	½	1	0	½	½	1	½	1	0	½	1	½	8½

Web links

• Candidates tournament at mark-weeks.com
• Table of the candidates tournament at the week in chess
• World Cup competition at mark-weeks.com