The Women's World Chess Championship was held from 16 March to 7 April 2015 in Sochi, Russia.

[2] The unclear state of the tournament was highly criticised by the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP).

As a result of this victory, Muzychuk was awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM), qualified for the FIDE World Cup 2015, and earned the right to defend her title in a 2016 match against the winner of the Women's FIDE Grand Prix Series 2013-14, Hou Yifan.

51 players from women's continental and zonal qualifiers:[4] Europe 28,[5] Asia 12, Americas 8 and Africa 3.

[6] Three former world champions were in the field: Alexandra Kosteniuk seeded 5th, Antoaneta Stefanova 9th and Anna Ushenina 15th.

Notably, women's world number one and defending champion Hou Yifan from China opted not to play, because of a prior commitment to a chess tournament in Hawaii.

On the move 41 Muzychuk carried out a simplifying combination, transposing to an endgame with two strong passed pawns against a knight.