This year's Women's World Championship in Tehran, Iran (February 10-March 4) was a site of both fierce chess and controversy. In an Open letter to FIDE, [spu popup=""]
US Chess President Gary Walters [/spu]criticized the choice of venue.
US Women's Champion Nazi Paikidze vocally boycotted the event and several other top American females, including GM Irina Krush also declined to play.
American contenders Sabina Foisor, Kateryna Nemcova and Viktorija Ni were eliminated in round 1 of the 64-player knockout tournament.
See full bracket here.
Grandmasters Tan Zhongyi (China) and Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) rose to the top and contested a very tight final match. Tan Zhongyi was fighting to become the fifth Women's World Championship from China, while Anna could become the second Muzychuk to win a Women's World Championship (her sister Mariya claimed the the title in 2015.) The classical portion of the match was split 2-2 with two draws and a victory for each player.
[pgn][Event "FIDE WWCC 2017"]
[Site "Tehran, IRI"]
[Date "2017.02.28"]
[White "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Black "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2017.02.11"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Qd3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qd3 a6 8. e4
c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. e5 Ng4 13. Ne4 Bb4+ 14. Ke2 Nd7
15. Bf4 Nc5 16. Nxc5 Bxc5 17. Rhc1 Bb6 18. Ng5 Ke7 19. Be4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Rhc8
21. f3 Nh6 22. g4 Ng8 23. Nd6 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Kd7 25. Nxf7 Ne7 26. Be3 Bxe3 27.
Kxe3 Ng6 28. h4 Rf8 29. h5 Ne7 30. Ng5 Nd5+ 31. Kf2 h6 32. Ne4 Ra8 33. a3 a5
34. Nc3 Rc8 35. Rd1 Ke7 36. Nxd5+ exd5 37. Rxd5 Rc2+ 38. Ke3 Rxb2 39. Ke4 a4
40. f4 Rb1 41. Kf5 Rb3 42. Rc5 Kd7 43. Kg6 b4 44. axb4 Rxb4 45. Kf5 Ke7 46.
Rc7+ Kf8 47. Ra7 Kg8 48. g5 hxg5 49. fxg5 Rb6 50. Rxa4 g6+ 51. hxg6 Rb1 52.
Ra8+ Kg7 53. Ra7+ Kg8 54. g7 Rf1+ 55. Kg6 Ra1 56. Rf7 1-0[/pgn]
Anna won against Zhongyi's French, where a classic Bxh7+ sacrifice led to favorable complications for White:
[pgn][Event "FIDE WWCC 2017"]
[Site "Tehran, IRI"]
[Date "2017.03.01"]
[White "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Black "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.02.11"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2
O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. a3 Be7 12. Bd3 a6 13. h4 b5 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7
15. Qd3+ Kg8 16. Ng5 f5 17. Nxd5 b4 18. Nxe7+ Nxe7 19. Bd2 Rb8 20. Qd6 Qc5 21.
Bxb4 Qxd6 22. Bxd6 Ng6 23. Nxe6 Re8 24. Bxb8 Rxe6 25. g3 Bb7 26. Rh2 Nc5 27.
Rd8+ Kh7 28. Bd6 Ne4 29. h5 Nh8 30. h6 Nf7 31. Rd7 Rxd6 32. Rxf7 1-0[/pgn]
The split match headed to rapid tiebreak, which began well for Muzychuk. Zhongyi switched to the Petroff, from the French she employed in the classical match. Muzychuk grinded her to what seemed like a dominant endgame, but the Chinese Grandmaster was able to escape to a drawn pawn ending.
[pgn][Event "FIDE WWCC 2017"]
[Site "Tehran, IRI"]
[Date "2017.03.03"]
[White "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Black "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2558"]
[BlackElo "2502"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2017.02.11"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Qe8 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Nxe5 dxe5 12. c4 Qa4 13. Kb1 Be6 14. f3
Rfe8 15. Qe2 Qa5 16. Bd2 Qc5 17. Bc3 f6 18. Qe4 g6 19. Qxb7 Bxc4 20. Bxc4+ Qxc4
21. Rd7 Bd6 22. Rd1 Rab8 23. Qd5+ Qxd5 24. Rxd5 Rbd8 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. a4 Rd7
27. Ra5 c5 28. Ka2 Rb7 29. Rb5 Rc7 30. Ba5 Rc6 31. Kb3 c4+ 32. Kc3 e4 33. fxe4
Bxh2 34. Kd4 a6 35. Rb7 Bg1+ 36. Kc3 Bh2 37. Bb6 Bg3 38. Be3 Re6 39. Kd4 f5 40.
exf5 gxf5 41. Bg5 h6 42. Bd2 f4 43. Kxc4 Re2 44. Bc3 Rxc2 45. Rg7+ Kf8 46. Rh7
Rxg2 47. Rxh6 Ke7 48. Kd5 Re2 49. Rh7+ Ke8 50. Be5 Rh2 51. Rxh2 Bxh2 52. Ke4
Kd7 53. Bxf4 Bxf4 54. Kxf4 Kc6 55. Ke5 Kc5 56. a5 Kb5 57. Kd5 Kxa5 58. Kc5 Ka4
59. b4 Kb3 60. Kb6 Kxb4 61. Kxa6 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
In the second tiebreak game, Tan Zhongyi prevailed after the blunder ...Kh6, when g4! ensnared the black king.
[pgn][Event "FIDE Women's World Championship"]
[Site "ChessBase"]
[Date "2017.03.03"]
[White "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Black "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2502"]
[BlackElo "2558"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 dxc4 7. Nxf5 exf5 8. e3
Nbd7 9. Bxc4 Nb6 10. Be2 Bd6 11. Bf3 O-O 12. O-O Re8 13. Qc2 Qd7 14. b3 Re7 15.
Na4 Rae8 16. Nc5 Qc8 17. Bd2 Nbd5 18. Rac1 Ne4 19. Bg2 g6 20. b4 Qc7 21. Nxe4
fxe4 22. b5 Ba3 23. Rb1 cxb5 24. Qb3 Qd6 25. Qxb5 Rc8 26. Qb3 Kg7 27. Bc1 Bxc1
28. Rbxc1 Rc6 29. Rxc6 Qxc6 30. Qa3 Qb6 31. Rc1 Qb4 32. Qxa7 Nc3 33. Rf1 Qc4
34. Qa3 Re6 35. Re1 Ra6 36. Qe7 Rxa2 37. Bxe4 b5 38. Bf3 b4 39. Qe5+ Kh6 40. g4
f6 41. Qxf6 Ra5 42. h4 1-0[/pgn]
GM Elshan Moradiabadi, who was born in Iran and now lives in the US, wrote an extensive report on the event for chessbase, and you can find further information on the official tournament website. 
