The Women's World Chess Championship 2001 took place from November 25 to December 14, 2001, in Moscow, Russia.
[4] Notable top players not taking part were Judit Polgár (ranked the no.
1 woman in the world), Xie Jun (ranked 2nd), Wang Lei (4th), Pia Cramling (6th), Koneru Humpy (13th), Qin Kanying (15th), Sofia Polgar (16th), and Viktorija Čmilytė (20th).
Polgár, ranked 1st female and 19th overall in the world, chose instead to participate in the concurrent open event.
Reigning champion Xie Jun had put her active career on hold at the time and decided not to defend her title.