The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–2011 was a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women, which formed part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship 2011. The winner of the Grand Prix (the one with most Grand Prix points) was to challenge Hou Yifan—the 2010 world champion— in the third quarter of 2011. As Hou Yifan also won the Grand Prix, Koneru Humpy as the runner-up qualified for the championship match. The final tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Santiago de Chile starting on October 23, 2010. However, due to problems with financing, the host was replaced and the final tournament was then played in Doha, Qatar. Format Eighteen of the top female players in the world were to be selected to compete in these tournaments. Each player would contract to participate in exactly 4 of these tournaments. Players must rank their preference of tournaments once the final list of host cities was announced and the dates allocated to each host city. Each tournament was staged as 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 points for first place, 130 for second place, 110 for third place, and then 90 down to 10 points for places four to twelve (decreasing by 10 points for each place). Grand Prix points were split between players on equal tournament points. Players only counted their best three tournament results in the overall standings. The player with the most total grand prix points for those three tournaments was the winner. Players and qualification The 18 players qualified were: The top four from the World Championship 2008: Alexandra Kosteniuk (declined to participate), Hou Yifan, Pia Cramling, and Koneru Humpy. The six highest rated players (average of October 2007 and October 2008 lists) not already qualified: Judit Polgár (declined), Susan Polgar (declined), Xie Jun (declined), Zhao Xue, Marie Sebag, and Zhu Chen. Two players nominated by the FIDE president: Nana Dzagnidze and Elina Danielian. One nominee from each of the six host cities: Betul Cemre Yildiz (Istanbul), Shen Yang (Nanjing), Zeinab Mamedyarova, Lilit Mkrtchian (Jermuk), Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Ulaanbaataar), and Martha Fierro (Santiago). The four players who declined to participate were replaced by the following reserves (on rating): Antoaneta Stefanova,