Queens’ Online Chess Festival returns in March 2026

ФИДЕ проводит серию онлайн-турниров в честь Международного женского дня на платформе Lichess .

Queen’s Festival

Открытый турнир для девочек и девушек любого возраста и рейтинга.
Азиатский отборочный этап

8 марта 14:00 (по времени КЗ)

Ссылка для регистрации: https://forms.gle/rBcspUh9Fth9fQki9

Princess Festival

Турнир для девочек до 17 лет без рейтинга ФИДЕ.

Отборочные этапы:

22 марта 14:00 и 01:00 ночи по времени КЗ (можно выбрать один из двух удобных турниров)

Ссылка для регистрации: https://forms.gle/c6ZsH6gxPAEN7ZAz9

По всем вопросам — 7 702 633 2492 — Каусар

The Queens’ Online Chess Festival will return in March 2026, marking its 6th edition as a global celebration of women’s chess. Organised by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess under the Chess4All FIDE WOM Project, the festival will run from March 1-29, 2026 and is dedicated to International Women’s Day (March 8). Participation is free of charge, and the festival is open to women and girls of all ages and playing levels, including unrated players from around the world.

The 2026 edition of the Queens’ Online Chess Festival will once again feature two parallel competitions, offering opportunities for both rated and unrated players:

Queens’ Women’s Open Tournament
Unrated Princesses’ Tournament

Queens’ Women’s Open Tournament
Open to all female players with a FIDE ID, the Women’s Open is structured as a series of continental online blitz qualifiers, followed by a Semi-Final and a Final.

The qualification tournaments will take place as follows:

African Online Blitz Qualification – March 1 (9:00 UTC)
European Online Blitz Qualification – March 7 (9:00 UTC)
Asian Online Blitz Qualification – March 8 (9:00 UTC)
American Online Blitz Qualification – March 15 (13:00 UTC)
Each continental qualifier will be played as a 9-round Swiss tournament with a 3+2 blitz time control. The winner of each qualifier will receive the title of Queen of her respective continent.

The top 25 players from each continent will advance to the Queens’ Online Semi-Final, scheduled for March 22 at 13:00 UTC, where 100 players will compete in a 9-round Swiss tournament.

The top eight finishers from the Semi-Final will qualify for the Queens’ Online Final, a 7-round round-robin blitz tournament played on March 29 at 13:00 UTC, with a 5+5 time control, to determine the overall winner of the festival.

Registration deadlines for the continental qualification tournaments are as follows:

Africa: February 22, 2026
Europe & Asia: March 1, 2026
Americas: March 7, 2026
The registration form for the Queens’ Women’s Open is available [HERE].

Unrated Princesses’ Tournament
Designed for girls without a FIDE rating, the Unrated Princesses’ Tournament is open to players in the U9, U11, U13, U15, and U17 age categories (U17 players must be born on or after 1 January 2009).

The Princesses’ competition will include:

Online Qualification Group A – March 16 (9:00 UTC)
Online Qualification Group B – March 16 (13:00 UTC)
Online Final Stage U9, U11, U13, U15, U17 – March 29 (13:00 UTC)
All stages of the Princesses’ tournament will be played with a 5+5 blitz time control, with 7 rounds for each qualification stage

Unrated players under 17 years old may choose to participate in the Queens’ Women’s Open, the Unrated Princesses’ Tournament, or both events.

Registration for the Princesses’ tournament closes on March 8, 2026. The registration form is available [HERE].

Fair play and online regulations

Fair play remains a central pillar of the Queens’ Online Chess Festival. All Semi-Final and Final stages will be conducted under FIDE Online Chess Regulations, including mandatory Zoom supervision, screen sharing, and camera monitoring. All games will undergo post-event fair play verification using statistical analysis tools and the FIDE Screening Tool.

Awards

All participants will receive an electronic certificate of participation. Additional awards include:

Queens’ Women’s Open

Continental titles for the winners of each qualification tournament
100 USD FIDE shop voucher for the winners of each qualification tournament
Training sessions with Women Grandmasters for top performers
A prize fund of USD 600 for the top three finishers in the Queens’ Women’s Open Final
An invitation for the overall winner of the Queens’ Women’s Open to attend the 46th World Chess Olympiad 2026 in Uzbekistan, including three nights of hotel accommodation with full board
Unrated Princesses’ Tournament

Diplomas for the top three finishers in each age category for both qualification stages of the Princesses’ Chess Festival
Training sessions with Women Grandmasters for top performers
A physical trophy for the winner of the final
100 USD FIDE shop voucher for the final winner, and 50 USD vouchers for second and third place finishers.
We are looking forward to your registrations!

Regulations (PDF)

Contact Information:

General Director: Ozgur Solakoglu (TUR)
Tournament Director: Ulkar Umudova (AZE)
Festival Coordinator: Yilmaz Kar tal (TUR)
Chief Arbiter: IA Kaussar Bauyrzhan (KAZ)

E-mail address: queensfestival@fide.com

FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess official website: wom.fide.com/

Queens’ Online Chess Festival returns in March 2024

The Queens’ Online Chess Festival, a series of continental women’s online blitz tournaments, is returning this spring! The fourth edition of the popular event, organised by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, will take place from March 09-30, 2024, on the Tornelo online platform.

In 2023, over 800 female players from 124 countries participated in the third edition of the festival. Organisers hope that this time, the number of female players joining the event will exceed one thousand.

The festival welcomes all women chess players from around the world of all ages and all rating groups, including unrated chess enthusiasts. Participation is free of charge.

The festival is comprised of two competitions:

Queens’ Women Open Tournament (open to all female participants with FIDE ID). Continental qualifying events running from Match 09-17 and Semi-Final and Final scheduled on March 24 and 30, respectively;
Unrated Princesses’ tournaments (for U16 (born on 1.1.2008 or later) female players with no FIDE rating). The qualification stage is scheduled for March 24, and finals will be held on March 30.
The Queens’ Online Chess Festival 2024’s main prizes are worth fighting for. Like in the previous edition, the winners of the World Queens’ Open 2024 and Princess’ Tournament (both U9 and U16 ) will be invited to the 45th World Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest, Hungary, this September. Air tickets, full-board accommodation for three days and invitations to the Opening Ceremony of the Chess Olympiad 2024 for the winner and one accompanying person will be covered.

Queens’ Women Open Tournament

Registration form: forms.gle/Bs9swcu5zkuEY4T87

Registration deadlines:

Africa – March 02, 2024

Europe – March 03, 2024

Asia – March 09, 2024

Americas – March 10, 2024

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: forms.gle/gqSM1nkUfR6m1LhWA

Registration deadline: March 17, 2024

Unrated players U16 (born on 01.01.2008 or later) can play in both the Queens’ Women’s Open tournament and the Unrated Princesses’ tournament.

Regulations for the Queens’ Chess Festival (pdf)

fide.com

The all-Chinese final of the FIDE Women’s Candidates will be held in Chongqing, China from March 27 2023 until April 06 2023.

The final stage of the tournament will be played between GM Tan Zhongyi and GM Lei Tingjie over the distance of 6 games.

FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess

The all-Chinese final of the FIDE Women’s Candidates will be held in Chongqing, China from March 27 2023 until April 06 2023.

The final stage of the tournament will be played between GM Tan Zhongyi and GM Lei Tingjie over the distance of 6 games.#womeninchess pic.twitter.com/RbFiLuHnQF

— FIDE Commission for Women's Chess (@FideWomen) February 23, 2023

The FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess in cooperation with chess24 seeks your donations to help our Ukrainian chess players and their families.

In light of the recent events, the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess has established a fundraising for Ukrainian chess players and their families being affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine. We have also reached out to a number of women chess players in Ukraine that all of us know well in our chess community. They are being caught up in a conflict that would have been unimaginable just a month ago.

You can join this great initiative of providing support to the Ukrainian chess players and their families by making your donation here.

fide.com