The final list of the twelve participants in the first leg of the 2015-2016 Women’s Grand Prix 2015-2016 is published hereunder.
The current World Champion, GM Maria Muzychuk as well as three former women world champions, GM Hou Yifan, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and GM Antoaneta Stefanova will battle it out with other top women players in Monte Carlo from October 2-16, to decide the winner of this essential first step in the 2015/16 qualifier for the World Championship match.
The nest qualifiers are set to take place as follows:
* February 2016 in Kish, Iran
* May 2016 in Tbilisi, Georgia
* July 2016 in Chengdu, China
| Name | Elo Rating |
| Hou, Yifan | 2671 |
| Koneru, Humpy | 2578 |
| Dzagnidze, Nana | 2573 |
| Muzychuk, Anna | 2549 |
| Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2530 |
| Muzychuk, Mariya | 2528 |
| Cramling, Pia | 2513 |
| Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2500 |
| Zhukova, Natalia | 2482 |
| Pogonina, Natalija | 2445 |
| Skripchenko, Almira | 2441 |
| Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2397 |
| Average rating | 2517.3 |
