ACF Asian Chess Federation
The continental governing body of Asian chess — covers FIDE member federations across Asia and Oceania, including India, China, and the rapidly growing Central Asian chess powers.
The Asian Chess Federation was founded in 1974 and is FIDE’s continental confederation for Asian member federations. The territory covers South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh), East Asia (China, Japan, Korea), Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines), Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan), the Middle East, and the Oceanian federations (Australia, New Zealand) that are grouped with Asia for confederation purposes. As of 2026 the ACF has 54 member federations — the largest of FIDE’s continental bodies by member count, slightly ahead of ECU.
The Events
The ACF runs the annual Asian Individual Championship (qualifies finalists to the FIDE World Cup), the Asian Team Championship, the Asian Nations Cup, the Asian Youth Championships, and the Asian Senior Championships. Recent ACF growth has been driven primarily by the explosion of Indian elite chess (Anand, Gukesh, Pragg, Arjun) and the rise of Uzbekistan (winning the 2022 Open Olympiad) and China (Ding Liren’s 2023 world title).