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)