def initial_chars_match(a, b, chars):
    """Determine if the first n characters of two strings are identical (case
    insensitive).

    Args:
        a: (str, utf-8) the first string to compare.
        b: (str, utf-8) the second string to compare.
        chars: (int) the number of characters to compare
    Returns:
        True if the characters match (case insensitive), else false
    """
    return a.lower()[:chars] == b.lower()[:chars]