The number of chess tournaments across the globe is in the thousands. You have the traditional chess tourneys and then you also have speed chess. The community of puzzle chess is also gaining a lot of attention worldwide.

There are more male competitions compared to female competitions. There are also mixed competitions pitting boys against girls. But the doesn’t mean the women are in the shadows. The top chess players in the world are women, beating out several male grandmasters.

If you want to witness the action live and see women GMs take the stage, here are the biggest chess competitions.

U.S. Women’s Chess Championship

Ever since 1937, this tournament gave the world the best chess matches to date. The first-ever victor was Adele Rivero. She then won it again in 1940. The current champion is Chinese American Jennifer Yu.

Yu is also a chess Grandmaster and was given the title back in 2018. This means that the competition is without a doubt on the top tier in the global stage. The tournament is held every first quarter of each year. Yu, in 2020 is looking to defend her title against returning champions as well as new prodigies.

You can watch every round live on sports channels.

Women’s World Chess Championship 2020

2020 is going to be a big year for chess players, experts, and fans. The 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship is set to take place in January 2020 in China and Russia. The anticipated match is between China’s Ju Wenjun and Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.

The match is expected to be separated into two parts, one in Shanghai and one in Vladivostok. Wenjun is the 2018 World Champion and Goryachkina is yet to get her first Women’s Championship title.

Both are Grandmasters, Wenjun, age 29 and Goryachkina, age 20. Wenjun is on the second spot and Goryachkina in the third in the Women’s World ranking. This match is expected to go the distance.

Chess Betting

To add in all of the excitement, you might consider making your bet on these tournaments. There already are several sportsbooks collecting bets for the Women’s Championship in 2020.