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Women's World Chess Championship 2001

The Women's World Chess Championship 2001 took place from November 25 to December 14, 2001 in Moscow, Russia. It was won by Zhu Chen, who beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in the final by 5 to 3.

For the second time, the championship took the form of a 64-player knock-out tournament.

Participants

The qualified players were seeded by their Elo ratings (October 2001).

Alisa Galliamova (RUS), 2547, IM (R)
Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), 2513, GM (R)
Wang Pin (CHN), 2498, WGM (R)
Almira Skripchenko-Lautier (MDA), 2497, WGM (E)
Nana Ioseliani (GEO), 2497, IM (R)
Zhu Chen (CHN), 2497, GM (R)
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), 2486, WGM (WC)
Xu Yuhua (CHN), 2485, WGM (R)
Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), 2473, IM (R)
Corina-Isabela Peptan (ROM), 2462, IM (E)
Alisa Maric (SCG), 2457, IM (WC)
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), 2455, IM (E)
Natasa Bojkovic (SCG), 2452, WGM (E)
Cristina Adela Foisor (ROM), 2444, IM (E)
Peng Zhaoqin (NED), 2443, IM (E)
Hoang Thanh Trang (VIE), 2439, IM (Z3.2a)
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), 2437, IM (E)
Tatiana Stepovaia-Dianchenko (RUS), 2435, WGM (E)
Nino Khurtsidze (GEO), 2425, IM (E)
Anna Zatonskih (UKR), 2419, WGM (E)
Xu Yuanyuan (CHN), 2411, WIM (J)
Svetlana Prudnikova (SCG), 2411, WGM (E)
Inna Gaponenko (UKR), 2409, WGM (E)
Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (IND), 2405, WGM (AS)
Marta Zielińska (POL), 2405, WGM (E)
Tatiana Grabuzova (RUS), 2399, WGM (E)
Elena Sedina (ITA), 2398, IM (E)
Tatiana Kononenko (UKR), 2395, WGM (E)
Elisabeth Pähtz (GER), 2392, WGM (E)
Olga Alexandrova (UKR), 2387, IM (E)
Iweta Radziewicz (POL), 2387, WGM (E)
Natalia Kiseleva (UKR), 2382, WGM (E)
Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM), 2382, WGM (E)
Wang Yu (CHN), 2378, WFM (AS)
Monika Soćko (POL), 2375, IM (E)
Elina Danielian (ARM), 2373, WGM (E)
Tatiana Shumiakina (RUS), 2371, WGM (E)
Joanna Dworakowska (POL), 2358, WGM (E)
Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO), 2349, GM (PN)
Sulennis Pina (CUB), 2345, WIM (AM)
Li Ruofan (CHN), 2341, WIM (AS)
Svetlana Petrenko (MDA), 2336, WGM (E)
Camilla Baginskaite (USA), 2336, WIM (Z2.1)
Genrieta Lagvilava (BLR), 2326, WGM (E)
Julia Galianina-Ryjanova (RUS), 2320, WGM (E)
Ramaswamy Aarthie (IND), 2301, WIM (AS)
Gu Xiaobing (CHN), 2299 (Z3.3)
Jennifer Shahade (USA), 2295, WIM (Z2.1)
Maritza Arribas (CUB), 2287, WGM (Z2.3)
Elena Levushkina (UZB), 2280, WIM (Z3.4)
Huang Qian (CHN), 2275 (AS)
Dagne Ciuksyte (LTU), 2271, WIM (E)
Nisha Mohota (IND), 2262, WIM (AS)
Maria Kouvatsou (GRE), 2234, WGM (PN)
Nava Starr (CAN), 2211, WIM (Z2.1)
Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky (AUS), 2182, WIM (Z3.2b)
Pallavi Shah (IND), 2172, WIM (Z3.1b)
Elina Groberman (USA), 2103 (Z2.1)
Elisa Maggiolo (ARG), 2090, WIM (Z2.5)
Joara Chaves (BRA), 2079, WIM (Z2.4)
Farida Arouche (ALG), 2077 (AF)
Shadi Paridar (IRI), 2071, WIM (Z3.1a)
Asma Houli (ALG) (AF)
Wissam Toubal (ALG) (AF)

Notable top players not taking part were Judit Polgár (ranked the no. 1 woman in the world), Xie Jun (ranked 2nd), Wang Lei (4th), Pia Cramling (6th), Koneru Humpy (13th), Qin Kanying (15th), Sofia Polgar (16th), and Viktorija Cmilyte (20th).

Polgár, ranked 1st female and 19th overall in the world, chose instead to participate in the concurrent open event. Reigning champion Xie Jun had put her active career on hold at the time and decided not to defend her title.