A strong field of 157 players from 10 countries, including six International Masters and 24 FIDE Masters and Women FIDE Masters, will converge on the Maximum City for the Asian Junior Chess Championships from August 16 to 26. The championship, organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation, Asian Chess Federation and FIDE, will be held at a five-star hotel in Parel. The Open section is headed by Indian IM Mayank Chakraborty (2500), followed by Russia’s IM Artem Pingin (2477) and India’s IM Apporv Kamble (2441). Among the women, WFM Pratitee Bordoloi (2252) leads Kazakhstan’s WFA Mariya Kholyavko (2217) and Turkmenistan’s WFM Lala Shohradova (2159). The event has previously crowned several prominent Indian players, including Viswanathan Anand, Abhijit Kunte, Tejas Bakre, Tania Sachdev, Koneru Humpy and Ivana Furtado.