1Vera Menchik1927–1944
2Lyudmila Rudenko1950–1953
3Elisaveta Bykova1953–1956
4Olga Rubtsova1956–1958
5Elisaveta Bykova (2nd reign)1958–1962
6Nona Gaprindashvili1962–1978
7Maia Chiburdanidze1978–1991
8Xie Jun1991–1996
9Susan Polgar1996–1999
10Xie Jun (2nd reign)1999–2001
11Zhu Chen2001–2004
12Antoaneta Stefanova2004–2006
13Xu Yuhua2006–2008
14Alexandra Kosteniuk2008–2010
15Hou Yifan2010–2012
16Anna Ushenina2012–2013
17Hou Yifan (2nd reign)2013–2015
18Mariya Muzychuk2015–2016
19Hou Yifan (3rd reign)2016–2017
20Tan Zhongyi2017–2018
21Ju Wenjun2018–present