The Women’s World Chess Championship was held from 16 March to 7 April 2015 in Sochi, Russia. It was a 64-player knockout tournament. The players were selected through national chess championships. There were 28 participants from Europe, 12 from Asia, 8 form Americas and 3 from Africa. Women’s world number one and defending champion Hou Yifan from China opted not to play, because of the prior commitments. In her absence India’s Kaneru Humpy was no 1 ranked player. Doranvalli Harika (R-12), Mary Anne Gomes (48) were the other two Indian contenders. Russia (10) China (9) and Georgia (6) sent the maximum number of players for the tournament, followed by Ukraine (5), USA and India (3 each).
In the first round, five lower rated players won against their opponent. The highest rated player eliminated was Elina Danielian, seeded 13th. Mary Anne Gomes of India lost in the first round to Tatina Kosinsetva (R- 17) of Russia. Kaneru Humpy beat 68 seeded Ayah Moataaz of Egypt and D Harika beat 53 seeded Tatev Abrahmyan .
The second round saw the second seed Ju Wenjun lose to Natalia Pogonina in the classical games. Indian Harika beat 21st seeded Irina Krush of USA and Humpy defeated 32 nd seeded Ju Wenjun of China
Round three saw top seed Humpy Koneru winning her sixth straight game, defeating 16th seeded Alisa Galliamova 2–0. Harika Dronavalli defeated 5th seeded Kosteniuk, a former champion
In the quarter-finals Humpy Koneru lost her first game of the tournament to 8th seeded Mariya Muzychuk won the second and finally lost in the tie-breaker. Harika Dronavalli defeated 45th seeded Arabidze and reached the semi-finals again after 2012. Finally she got a bronze medal for India.
Dronavalli versus 8th seeded M. Muzychuk had two draws in the classical games. Muzychuk decided the second set of rapids for her against Dronavalli. Thus Mariya Muzychuk accounted for ousting both Indian players, Kaneru Humpy in quarter finals and Dronavalli Harika in semifinals respectively. Not only that she eventually won the championship
The final was the only match of the tournament which consisted of four classical games (from 2 to 5 April 2015), eventually tie-breaks were played on 6 April 2015 and 8th seeded Ms.Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine was decided as winner .