The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–2012 is a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women, which formed part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship 2013. The winner of the Grand Prix (the one with most Grand Prix points) will challenge the 2012 Women's World Chess champion.

Format

18 top world women players were to be selected to compete in these tournaments. Each player agrees and will contract to participate in exactly four of these tournaments. Players must rank their preference of tournaments once the final list of host cities is announced and the dates are allocated to each host city.

Each tournament is a 12-player, single round-robin tournament. In each round players scored 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand prix points were then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament: 160 grand prix points for first place, 130 for second place, 110 for third place, and then 90 down to 10 points by steps of 10. In case of a tie in points the grand prix points are shared evenly by the tied players. Players only counted their best three tournament results. The player with the most grand prix points is the winner.

Players and qualification

There were several ways to qualify for the Grand Prix series.

The top four from the Women's World Chess Championship 2010:

1. Hou Yifan
2. Ruan Lufei
3. Koneru Humpy
4. Zhao Xue

The winner of the previous Grand Prix:
(As Hou Yifan was already qualified an additional sixth rating entry was given)

The six highest rated players (average of July 2010 and January 2011 lists) not already qualified:

1. Judit Polgár (declined)
2. Tatiana Kosintseva
3. Antoaneta Stefanova
4. Nadezhda Kosintseva
5. Anna Muzychuk
6. Kateryna Lahno

Two players nominated by the FIDE president:

1. Zhu Chen
2. Batkhuyag Munguntuul

One nominee from each of the six host cities:

1. Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rostov)
2. Ju Wenjun (Shenzhen)
3. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Nalchik)
4. Alisa Galliamova (Kazan)
5. Elina Danielian (Jermuk)
6. Betul Cemre Yildiz (Ankara)

Polgár, the highest rated woman in the world, has never competed for the women's title and declined to participate in this cycle as well, so her spot was given to the next player on the average rating list, Viktorija Cmilyte.


Tie breaks

With the objective of determining a clear, single winner to play in the Challenger Match and in the case that two or more players have equal cumulative points at the top, the following criteria (in descending order) will be utilized to decide the overall winner:

1. The fourth result not already in the top three performances
2. The number of actual game points scored in the four tournaments
3. The number of first place finishes
4. The number of second place finishes
5. The number of won games
6. Drawing of lots

Grand Prix standings

Hou Yifan won the Grand Prix with a perfect score of three sole wins at the fifth Grand Prix in Jermuk. Should Yifan win the 2012 World Championship the runner-up will be her challenger in the 2013 Championship. Muzychuk, Humpy, Ju Wenjun and Zhao Xue are the only in contention of the Grand Prix runner-up.

Player	Rostov	Shenzhen	Nalchik	Kazan	Jermuk	Ankara	Best 3
Hou Yifan	160	160		100	160		480
Anna Muzychuk	100	130		145			375
Kateryna Lahno	130		80	50	110		320
Koneru Humpy	65			145	110		320
Ju Wenjun		100	130		75		305
Zhao Xue		75	160		60		295
Nadezhda Kosintseva	80		55	35	110		245
Viktorija Cmilyte		35	100	100			235
Tatiana Kosintseva	100		55	60			215
Ruan Lufei	30	75			75		180
Elina Danielian	45	50		75	45		170
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya	20	20	100		30		150
Antoaneta Stefanova	45		55	35			135
Alisa Galliamova	65		30	20			115
Tan Zhongyi		100					100
Munguntuul Batkhuyag		60	20		20		100
Alexandra Kosteniuk	10		10	75			95
Zhu Chen		35	55				90
Lilit Mkrtchian					45		45
Betul Cemre Yildiz		10		10			20
Nino Khurtsidze					10		10

• Tan Zhongyi replaced Alisa Galliamova in Shenzhen.
  
• Khurtsidze and Mkrtchian replaced Kosteniuk and Zhu Chen in Jermuk, who had withdrawn their participation.