The Women's World Chess Championship 2006 took place from March 10–27, 2006 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. For the fourth time, the championship took the form of a 64-player knock-out tournament.
The tournament was won by Xu Yuhua, who beat Alisa Galliamova in the final by 2½ to ½. Notably, Xu Yuhua was three months pregnant at the time.
Participants
The players[1] were seeded by their FIDE Elo ratings of January 2006,[2] except that defending champion Antoaneta Stefanova was the no. 1 seed.
 Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), 2499, GM (WC) Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), 2499, GM (WC)
 Humpy Koneru (IND), 2537, GM (WC) Humpy Koneru (IND), 2537, GM (WC)
 Pia Cramling (SWE), 2515, GM (E04) Pia Cramling (SWE), 2515, GM (E04)
 Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), 2514, GM (R) Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), 2514, GM (R)
 Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), 2511, GM (WC) Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), 2511, GM (WC)
 Xu Yuhua (CHN), 2502, WGM (R) Xu Yuhua (CHN), 2502, WGM (R)
 Kateryna Lahno (UKR), 2500, IM (E05) Kateryna Lahno (UKR), 2500, IM (E05)
 Zhu Chen (CHN), 2482, GM (R) Zhu Chen (CHN), 2482, GM (R)
 Nadezhda Kosintseva (RUS), 2480, IM (E05) Nadezhda Kosintseva (RUS), 2480, IM (E05)
 Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (IND), 2479, IM (Z3.2) Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (IND), 2479, IM (Z3.2)
 Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS), 2479, IM (E04) Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS), 2479, IM (E04)
 Monika Soćko (POL), 2475, IM (E04) Monika Soćko (POL), 2475, IM (E04)
 Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU), 2475, IM (E05) Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU), 2475, IM (E05)
 Zhao Xue (CHN), 2473, WGM (R) Zhao Xue (CHN), 2473, WGM (R)
 Qin Kanying (CHN), 2469, WGM (Z3.5) Qin Kanying (CHN), 2469, WGM (Z3.5)
 Alisa Galliamova (RUS), 2467, IM (R) Alisa Galliamova (RUS), 2467, IM (R)
 Yelena Dembo (GRE), 2461, IM (E05) Yelena Dembo (GRE), 2461, IM (E05)
 Almira Skripchenko (FRA), 2461, IM (E05) Almira Skripchenko (FRA), 2461, IM (E05)
 Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), 2458, IM (WC) Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), 2458, IM (WC)
 Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM), 2453, IM (E05) Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM), 2453, IM (E05)
 Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), 2452, IM (E04) Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), 2452, IM (E04)
 Irina Krush (USA), 2447, IM (Z2.1) Irina Krush (USA), 2447, IM (Z2.1)
 Lela Javakhishvili (GEO), 2444, IM  (E05) Lela Javakhishvili (GEO), 2444, IM  (E05)
 Natalia Zhukova (UKR), 2432, WGM (E04) Natalia Zhukova (UKR), 2432, WGM (E04)
 Nino Khurtsidze (GEO), 2430, IM (E05) Nino Khurtsidze (GEO), 2430, IM (E05)
 Svetlana Matveeva (RUS), 2428, IM (E05) Svetlana Matveeva (RUS), 2428, IM (E05)
 Ekaterina Korbut (RUS), 2427, WGM (J04) Ekaterina Korbut (RUS), 2427, WGM (J04)
 Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), 2426, IM (E04) Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), 2426, IM (E04)
 Elina Danielian (ARM), 2423, IM (E05) Elina Danielian (ARM), 2423, IM (E05)
 Elisabeth Pähtz (GER), 2422, IM (J05) Elisabeth Pähtz (GER), 2422, IM (J05)
 Elena Zaiatz (RUS), 2422, IM (E05) Elena Zaiatz (RUS), 2422, IM (E05)
 Iweta Radziewicz (POL), 2421, IM (E05) Iweta Radziewicz (POL), 2421, IM (E05)
 Tatiana Kononenko (UKR), 2417, WGM (E05) Tatiana Kononenko (UKR), 2417, WGM (E05)
 Marie Sebag (FRA), 2415, IM (E05) Marie Sebag (FRA), 2415, IM (E05)
 Peng Zhaoqin (NED), 2407, GM (E04) Peng Zhaoqin (NED), 2407, GM (E04)
 Cristina Adela Foișor (ROM), 2402, IM (E04) Cristina Adela Foișor (ROM), 2402, IM (E04)
 Marta Zielińska (POL), 2398, WGM (E05) Marta Zielińska (POL), 2398, WGM (E05)
 Anna Ushenina (UKR), 2398, WGM (E05) Anna Ushenina (UKR), 2398, WGM (E05)
 Irina Vasilevich (RUS), 2386, IM (E05) Irina Vasilevich (RUS), 2386, IM (E05)
 Wang Yu (CHN), 2385, WGM (AS) Wang Yu (CHN), 2385, WGM (AS)
 Shen Yang (CHN), 2380 (Z3.5) Shen Yang (CHN), 2380 (Z3.5)
 Irina Slavina-Turova (RUS), 2379, IM (E04) Irina Slavina-Turova (RUS), 2379, IM (E04)
 Claudia Amura (ARG), 2366, WGM (AM) Claudia Amura (ARG), 2366, WGM (AM)
 Evgenija Ovod (RUS), 2366, IM (E05) Evgenija Ovod (RUS), 2366, IM (E05)
 Ruan Lufei (CHN), 2361 (Z3.5) Ruan Lufei (CHN), 2361 (Z3.5)
 Sulennis Piña (CUB), 2358, WGM (AM) Sulennis Piña (CUB), 2358, WGM (AM)
 Jovanka Houska (ENG), 2355, IM (E04) Jovanka Houska (ENG), 2355, IM (E04)
 Carolina Luján (ARG), 2346, WGM (Z2.5) Carolina Luján (ARG), 2346, WGM (Z2.5)
 Maka Purtseladze (GEO), 2341, IM (E05) Maka Purtseladze (GEO), 2341, IM (E05)
 Dana Aketayeva (KAZ), 2330, WIM (Z3.4) Dana Aketayeva (KAZ), 2330, WIM (Z3.4)
 Maria Kursova (RUS), 2319, WIM (PN) Maria Kursova (RUS), 2319, WIM (PN)
 Atousa Pourkashiyan (IRI), 2319, WIM (Z3.1) Atousa Pourkashiyan (IRI), 2319, WIM (Z3.1)
 Ju Wenjun (CHN), 2290 (AS) Ju Wenjun (CHN), 2290 (AS)
 Subbaraman Meenakshi (IND), 2289, WGM (AS) Subbaraman Meenakshi (IND), 2289, WGM (AS)
.svg.png.webp) Irina Berezina-Feldman (AUS), 2285, IM (Z3.6) Irina Berezina-Feldman (AUS), 2285, IM (Z3.6)
 Hou Yifan (CHN), 2269, WFM (Z3.5) Hou Yifan (CHN), 2269, WFM (Z3.5)
 Maritza Arribas (CUB), 2269, WGM (Z2.3) Maritza Arribas (CUB), 2269, WGM (Z2.3)
 Karen Zapata (PER), 2218, WIM (Z2.4) Karen Zapata (PER), 2218, WIM (Z2.4)
 Hoàng Xuân Thanh Khiết (VIE), 2196, WIM (Z3.3) Hoàng Xuân Thanh Khiết (VIE), 2196, WIM (Z3.3)
 Ingris Rivera (COL), 2128 (AM) Ingris Rivera (COL), 2128 (AM)
.svg.png.webp) Natalia Khoudgarian (CAN), 2106, WIM (Z2.2) Natalia Khoudgarian (CAN), 2106, WIM (Z2.2)
 Faridah Basta Sohair (EGY), 2083, WIM (AF) Faridah Basta Sohair (EGY), 2083, WIM (AF)
 Tuduetso Sabure (BOT), 2072, WGM (AF) Tuduetso Sabure (BOT), 2072, WGM (AF)
 Amina Mezioud (ALG), 1978 (Z4.1) Amina Mezioud (ALG), 1978 (Z4.1)
Only two players from the top 20 were absent: Judit Polgár (ranked the no. 1 woman in the world – and 14th overall) who instead took part in the open championship events of 2005 and 2007, as well as Hoang Thanh Trang (ranked 11th).
Qualification paths
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Results
Final match
A fourth game was not played because Xu Yuhua led by two points after game three.
- Women's World Chess Championship Final 2006 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Total  Alisa Galliamova (Russia) Alisa Galliamova (Russia)- 0 - ½ - 0 - — - ½  Xu Yuhua (China) Xu Yuhua (China)- 1 - ½ - 1 - 2½ 
Bracket
References
- ↑ "Final list of qualifiers of WWCC 2006 as per FIDE Regulations" Archived 2015-10-22 at the Wayback Machine. FIDE. 2006-02-16.
- ↑ FIDE January 2006 Top 50 Women

