In a final round, which is hardly to be surpassed, the Ukrainian Olympic champion Anna Muzychuk prevails due to the second rating and wins the Grand Prix of Austria in Großlobming! The Chinese grandmasters Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi follow in the places. In the overall ranking, the Ukrainian briefly misses the qualification for the candidate tournament, in which the challenger is determined for the next World Cup fight. Despite two tournament victories in the series (Cyprus and Austria), their total points are not enough to overtake Alexandra Goryachkina from the Russian Federation. Her emotional reaction after the draw in the final round impressively reflected the drama of this final: “I have never been so sad to win a tournament.”
In the overall series, consisting of 6 tournaments, each player competes three times, the results are added up. In the high-class participant field of 23 players from all over the world, Zhu Jiner (China) crowned the overall winner of the Women’s Grand Prix 2024–2025 and, together with the second-placed Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), secured one of the coveted starting places in the candidate tournament 2026.
Zhu Jiner showed strong nerves in the course of the series and especially in Austria. In her last game against the former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, she was able to fight for a draw despite a difficult position in the meantime – half a point that was decisive for the overall victory. “I am very happy about my performance and learned a lot,” said the 22-year-old after the tournament.
Austrian with fighting chess! In addition to the top fight, there was also gratifying moments from a Austrian point of view: Neo-Austrian Olga Badelka ended the tournament with a convincing victory over the Georgian top player Nana Dzagnidze and thus showed her great potential on an international parquet. Olga only removed once in 9 games, 8 decisive games speak a clear language – Olga plays (almost) always on victory!
At the ceremonial final ceremony, the CEO of the World Chess Federation, Emil Sutovsky, emphasized the importance of the tournament: “The players are the heroines of this event. We are working intensively on giving the Frauenschach Global even more space, support and visibility. This event set new standards in every respect – the best Grand Prix that has taken place so far!”
The President of the Austrian Chess Federation, Michael Stöttinger, was proud and satisfied with the implementation of the tournament in Styria: “This final was a milestone for the women’s chess in Austria. The tournament hall to the glass house of the G’Schlössl Murtal was of course a risk – and has paid itself fully! In memory!
Tournament website
https://womengrandprix.fide.com
Results at CHESS-Results
https://chess-results.com/tnr1169613.aspx
FIDE
https://www.fide.com
Austrian chess federation
https://www.chess.at
OTS original text press release with the exclusive in terms of content of the sender – www.ots.at | Ox