Recent editions have additionally featured side team events held at rapid and blitz time controls.
The current Asian champion is Iran, which won in 2018 on home soil at Hamadan.
Various formats have been used for both the open and women's championships, with a round robin or Swiss-system tournament being the most common.
Team chess events are currently part of the program of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and have sometimes been part of the Southeast Asian Games, most recently in 2013.
An Asian Cities Chess Championship has been held roughly once every two years since 1979.