The 1978 Women's World Chess Championship was won by Maia Chiburdanidze, who defeated the incumbent champion Nona Gaprindashvili At only 17 years of age, Chiburdanidze became the sixth and youngest Women's World Champion (Gaprindashvili had been 20 when she first won the title).
For the first time, the women's cycle contained not one but two Interzonal tournaments, held in Roosendaal, Netherlands and Tbilisi, Georgian SSR in November and December 1976, featuring the best players from each FIDE zone.
Akhmilovskaya and former three-time challenger Kushnir (now representing Israel) shared first place in Roosendaal, while Lematschko took the third and last spot in the Candidates after a playoff against van der Mije.
[2] The top three from each of the two Interzonals were joined by seeded players Alexandria and Levitina, the finalists from the last Candidates Tournament.
Sixteen-year-old Chiburdanidze beat Kushnir in the final, earning the right to challenge reigning champion Gaprindashvili.