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Drawing of lots of the Women's took place in

The drawing of lots for the Women's Candidates Tournament took place on April 30th, in the Museum of the Central in Moscow, named after . The ceremony was attended by Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE, and Judit Polgar, Honorary FIDE Vice President - and the strongest female player of all time.

The event will take place in Kazan (), from May 29 to June 19, 2019, with the Nogai Hotel as a venue (http://hotelnogai.ru/en). Organized by the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, FIDE, and the Russian Chess Federation, the Candidates has a record prize fund of 200,000 €. But more importantly, the winner of this double round-robin tournament will become ’s challenger, with half a million euros at stake.

These are the participants:

1- RUS, 2559 (KO World Ch. 2018 finalist) 2- UKR, 2560 (KO World Ch. 2018 semi-finalist) 3- RUS, 2545 (KO World Ch. 2018 semi-finalist) 4- UKR, 2555 (qualified by rating) 5- RUS, 2515 (qualified by rating) 6- Nana Dzagnidze GEO, 2513 (qualified by rating) 7- CHN, 2513 (qualified by rating) 8- Alexandra Goryachkina RUS, 2505 (1st replacement)

According to the rules, the representatives of the same country have to play each other in the first round of each half of the tournament. This means Muzychuk sisters must meet in the Round 1 and Round 8, while four Russian players they have to play each other in the Rounds 1 to 3, and 8 to 10.

You can find a video of the drawing of lots on our Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/fidechannel

Based on the drawing of lots, the Chief Arbiter Hal Bond (Canada) created a full tournament schedule:

Round 1 (May 31) Valentina Gunina - Kateryna Lagno Alexandra Kosteniuk - Alexandra Goryachkina Nana Dzagnidze - Tan Zhongyi Maria Muzychuk - Anna Muzychuk

Round 2 (June 1) Kateryna Lagno - Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Goryachkina - Valentina Gunina Tan Zhongyi - Maria Muzychuk Anna Muzychuk - Nana Dzagnidze

Round 3 (June 2) Valentina Gunina - Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Goryachkina - Katerina Lagno Tan Zhongyi - Anna Muzychuk Nana Dzagnidze - Maria Muzychuk

(June 3 is a rest day)

Round 4 (June 4) Nana Dzagnidze - Valentina Gunina Alexandra Kosteniuk - Tan Zhongyi Anna Muzychuk - Alexandra Goryachkina Maria Muzychuk - Kateryna Lagno

Round 5 (June 5) Valentina Gunina - Maria Muzychuk Alexandra Kosteniuk - Nana Dzagnidze Alexandra Goryachkina - Tan Zhongyi Kateryna Lagno - Anna Muzychuk

Round 6 (June 6) Anna Muzychuk - Valentina Gunina Maria Muzychuk - Alexandra Kosteniuk Nana Dzagnidze - Alexandra Goryachkina Tan Zhongyi - Kateryna Lagno

(June 7 is a rest day)

Round 7 (June 8) Alexandra Kosteniuk - Anna Muzychuk Alexandra Goryachkina - Maria Muzychuk Kateryna Lagno - Nana Dzagnidze Valentina Gunina - Tan Zhongyi

Round 8 (June 9) Kateryna Lagno - Valentina Gunina Alexandra Goryachkina - Alexandra Kosteniuk Tan Zhongyi - Nana Dzagnidze Anna Muzychuk - Maria Muzychuk

Round 9 (June 10) Alexandra Kosteniuk - Kateryna Lagno Valentina Gunina - Alexandra Goryachkina Maria Muzychuk - Tan Zhongyi Nana Dzagnidze - Anna Muzychuk

(June 11 is a rest day)

Round 10 (June 12) Alexandra Kosteniuk - Valentina Gunina Kateryna Lagno - Alexandra Goryachkina Anna Muzychuk - Tan Zhongyi Maria Muzychuk - Nana Dzagnidze

Round 11 (June 13) Valentina Gunina - Nana Dzagnidze Tan Zhongyi - Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Goryachkina - Anna Muzychuk Kateryna Lagno - Maria Muzychuk

Round 12 (June 14) Maria Muzychuk - Valentina Gunina Nana Dzagnidze - Alexandra Kosteniuk Tan Zhongyi - Alexandra Goryachkina Anna Muzychuk - Kateryna Lagno

(June 15 is a rest day)

Round 13 (June 16) Valentina Gunina - Anna Muzychuk Alexandra Kosteniuk - Maria Muzychuk Alexandra Goryachkina - Nana Dzagnidze Kateryna Lagno - Tan Zhongyi

Round 14 (June 17) Anna Muzychuk - Alexandra Kosteniuk Maria Muzychuk - Alexandra Goryachkina Nana Dzagnidze - Kateryna Lagno Tan Zhongyi - Valentina Gunina

Closing ceremony and tie-breaks (if needed): June 18

ABOUT KAZAN

While being the 7th Russian city by population, with roughly 1,3 million inhabitants, its beauty and rich history makes Kazan often regarded as “The Third Capital of Russia”, only after Moscow and .

Laying at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka rivers, the capital of the Tatarstan Republic was founded in 1005, which makes this city at least 150 years older than Moscow.

Kazan is a famous sports center in Russia, having hosted the 2013 Universiade and many national hockey, boxing and swimming championships. It was one of the hosting cities of 2018 FIFA Football World Cup and, of course, it also held the 2011 Candidates tournament, won by Boris Gelfand.