Queens’ Online Chess Festival returns for its 5th edition
We are thrilled to announce that the Queens’ Online Chess Festival 2025 returns in March for its 5th edition! The Queens’ Online Chess Festival is a series of continental women’s online blitz tournaments, open to all female chess players worldwide. Our goal is to create a special opportunity for all female players, no matter the location, age or level – to come together and participate in this unique event for women’s chess. The registration is free of charge and the event will take place online on the platform Tornelo, from March 1-28, 2025. Sections of the Festival The Festival consists of two competitions: Queens’ Women Open Tournament (open to all female participants with FIDE ID). Continental qualifying events running from the 1st till 9th of Match and Semi-Final and Final scheduled on March 16th and 28th, respectively; Unrated Princesses’ tournaments (female players with no FIDE rating) Qualifiers for “East” and “West” with Finals in groups U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17 (for U17 – born on 1.1.2008 or later). The qualification stage is scheduled for March 15th, and Finals will be held on March 28th. Awards The winner of The Queen Festival Chess Tournament will be invited to the 46th World Chess Olympiad 2026 in Uzbekistan. The hotel accommodation for 3 nights full board (if the winner is U18, then accompanying person can also stay in the hotel with full board). The official Cup award ceremony for the Queens’ Festival 2025 will take place during the Olympiad 2026. The Queen Festival Chess Tournament offers a prize fund of 1000 euros. The first-place winner will receive 500 euros, the second-place winner will receive 300 euros, and the third-place winner will receive 200 euros. The winner of each Qualification in the Queens’ Festival tournaments: Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe, will receive a physical trophy and the title of the Queens’ Festival Continental Queen. The winner of the Princess Festival will receive a physical trophy. Additionally – each participant will receive an electronic certificate of participation. The first ten winners in all qualification tournaments will be entitled to two 45-minute training sessions with Women Grandmasters. Details to be announced. Queens’ Women Open Tournament Registration form: https://forms.gle/fwespf37anAfSFvj9 Registration deadlines: The qualification tournaments and semi-finals will be 9 or 11-round Swiss tournaments with 3+2 time control, depending on the number of participants, while the final will be a round-robin with 5+5 time control (7 rounds). Unrated Princesses’ Tournament Registration form: https://forms.gle/zNX9Jo7EbFemkzwm6 Registration deadline: March 8th 2025 Unrated players U17 (born on 01.01.2008 or later) can play in both the Queens’ Women’s Open tournament and the Unrated Princesses’ tournament. We are looking forward to your registrations! Regulations-Queens-Festival-2025 (PDF) FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess official website: wom.fide.com/
FIDE February 2025 rating list published
The world’s top 10 rankings remain unchanged in January, as the chess battles of the new year have only just begun. The first major event of 2025, Tata Steel, is nearing its conclusion in Wijk aan Zee, but the results from the Masters and Challengers sections will only be reflected in the March rating list. Biggest gains in top 100 Open and Women Van Foreest, Machteld FM NED 2367(+54) Rakshitta Ravi WGM IND 2365(+44) Efroimski, Marsel IM ISR 2398 (+9) Daulyte-Cornette, Deimante IM FRA 2384 (+9) Sindarov, Javokhir GM UZB 2700 (+8) Van Foreest, Jorden GM NED 2688 (+8) Fedoseev, Vladimir GM SLO 2724 (+7) Dardha, Daniel GM BEL 2652 (+7) Machteld Van Foreest (pictured below) became the indisputable winner in this category, adding 54 rating points to her tally. The younger sister of Jorden and Lucas Van Foreest made a triumphant return to the top 100 Women after a one-year hiatus, thanks to her strong performances at the Groningen Open and the 2024-25 4NCL Division 3 Bishops. Photo: Michal Walusza Another standout performer was Rakshitta Ravi, whose impressive showing at the 2025 Rilton Cup earned her 44 rating points. The 19-year-old Indian talent has been on a steep upward trajectory, accumulating 80 points over the last two months. The only classical chess event influencing the top 100 Open was Bundesliga 2024-2025 where Vladimir Fedoseev, Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden Van Foreest and Daniel Dardha gained rating points from their performances. Photo: Israel Chess Federation Meanwhile, Marsel Efroimski (pictured above) dominated the Israeli Women’s Championship, scoring an impressive 8.5/9 and earning 9 rating points. Unlike the classical rating lists, the rapid and blitz rankings saw significant shifts, largely due to the recently concluded 2024 European Women’s Rapid and Blitz Championship. Several players who excelled in the rapid event in Monte Carlo made notable rating gains: Eline Roebers (+33), Yuliia Osmak (+26), Lela Javakhishvili, (+23), Mai Narva (+22) and the champion, Anna Ushenina (+18), to name a few. Photo: Lennart Ootes A similar pattern emerged in the blitz event, where standout performances led to impressive rating increases: Michalina Rudzinska (+95! pictured above), Stavroula Tsolakidou (+57), Eline Roebers (+38), the new champion Alexandra Maltsevskaya (+24) and Nino Batsiashvili (+22) and Anna Ushenina (+21).