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For each poll, our editorial team has provided a list of nominees. Even with a panel involved, these are of course a bit subjective. And since we have limited ourselves to five players, undoubtedly some readers may miss their favoured choice. Our shortlist is one of many possible, we know!
The order of the players is arbitrary and you can vote below.
The 21-year-old Aleksanda Goryachkina won the Girls' World Championships three times in different age groups as a teenager, and also is a three-time European Girls' Champion. In June 2019, she succeeded in a candidates tournament to qualify as a challenger against World Champion Ju Wenjun starting in early January.
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Humpy was world champion among girls four times in different age groups. At the age of 15, she was the youngest female player to achieve the Grandmaster title and, after Judit Polgar, was the second woman in chess history to achieve an Elo rating of over 2600. In 2011, Humpy Koneru lost a World Championship match against Hou Yifan. After a maternity break, she returned to tournament chess in autumn 2018. In September of 2019, she won the Skolkovo Grand Prix and also topped the final standings at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Photo: David Llada
In 2006, 12-year-old Yifan Hou was the youngest player to ever take part in a World Championship and Chess Olympiad. Yifan Hou won the Women's World Championship three times. As a girl, she had won the U10 Girls World Championship and won bronze at the open U10 World Youth Championship. At 13, she was the youngest player ever to win the Chinese Women's Championship. She has been leading the world ranking of women since March 2015, by a wide margin. Hou is currently concentrating on her studies in Oxford, but occasionally also sits at the chess board, most recently in the German League.
Photo: Pascal Simon
Ju Wenjun is the reigning world chess champion. Last year, she won the World Championship twice, first as a challenger in the competition against Tan Zhongyi, then as winner of the knockout World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk. Ju Wenjun is number two in the women's world rankings behind Hou Yifan.
Photo: David Llada
18-year-old Russian Polina Shuvalova won the U12 European Girls 'Championships in 2013 and the U18 Girls' World Championships in 2018. This year she accomplished the feat of winning two World Championships in quick succession in India. First she won the U18 Girls' World Championship title and then the U20 Junior title. Polina Shuvalova is currently number four in the girls' world rankings.
Photo: Niklesh Jain
Who is your pick for the "Female Player of the Year 2019"?
2019femaleplayer
Voting ends on 12/31/2019, at 22:00 UTC
