CHENNAI: The Asian Junior Chess Championships 2026, to be hosted by the Maharashtra Chess Association, will witness around 157 players in action. The tournament, which will run from August 16 to 26, will see representation from 10 countries. The participating players consist of 6 International Masters and 24 FIDE Masters and Women FIDE Masters.
An announcement in this regard was made in a press conference on Wednesday. MCA president Dr Parinay Fuke, Niranjan Godbole, tournament director and Salil Ghate, the organising secretary were present on the occasion.
The tournament, which will feature Asia’s top Under-20 talent, will have seven rounds of Rapid and Blitz, besides nine rounds of the Classical Swiss format. The tournament, being held under the auspices of the All India Chess Federation, Asian Chess Federation and FIDE will be played at the ITC Maratha, Mumbai.
"The event, which in the past, has crowned illustrious names like Vishwanathan Anand, Abhijit Kunte, Tejas Bakre among men and players like Tania Sachdev, Koneru Humpy, Ivana Furtado, to name a few, is one of the most sought out events among juniors in the country," read a press statement. "Winners of this event, if IMs, will be granted the Grandmaster norm while non- IMs will get the IM norm," added the release.
A total of 157 players will feature in the Classical Swiss Format while 153 will play the Rapid event and 151 the Blitz event. The open section players have an average ELO of 2054, while the junior women’s section boasts an average ELO of 1885.
The Open list is led by Indian IM Mayanak Chakraborty (ELO 2500), followed by Russia’s IM Artem Pingin (2477) and Indian IM Apporv Kamble (2441). The Junior Women’s list is led by Indian WFM Pratitee Bordoloi (2252), followed by Kazakhstan WFA Mariya Kholyavko (2217) And Turkmenistan WFM Lala Shohradova (2159).
The other talented Indian players to watch out for are Vignesh Advaith Vemula (2405), Aaditya Dhingra (2403) and Akshay Borgaonkar (2396). Among the women WFMs Swara Lakshmi Nair (2155), Mrittika Mallick (2153) and Saranya Devi Narahari are expected to put up a good showing.