Welcome to the Illinois Chess Coaches Association!

What is the ICCA?

The Illinois Chess Coaches Association is a collection of chess coaches from across the state. We have organized together to help promote scholastic chess in Illinois, help other chess coaches, and organize tournaments, competitions, and conferences in the State. The ICCA was instrumental in bringing chess into the schools in Illinois. Today, we organize tournaments, run this website, and provide supplementary awards at the IHSA State Chess Team Tournament.

Below is a list of tips, thoughts, ideas, and links to help you get started:

Speak with your school administrators about starting a club!

• • The ICCA Team Startup Report is a great overview of what a chess team is, how it functions, and what is required in order to operate a scholastic chess team. This can be a valuable tool for articulating with school admin and school boards!

  • Read about some of the benefits of chess from Benjamin Franklin in his "On the Morals of Chess"

  • Don't forget to ask about permission slips, scheduling transportation, purchasing equipment & shirts, tournament fees, etc.

Get a team going!

• • Make announcements

  • Put up flyers

  • Distribute chess sets to willing teachers (check out the vendors on our Links page)

  • Play in the cafeteria, commons, and front lawn if you must; before and after school

Get connected to your local Chess Conference

• • Look for a chess conference near your school and ask about...

    • joining the conference as a member school, 

    • scheduling matches with other schools in the conference, 

    • participating in conference tournaments, and

    • any fees associated with the above activities.

Gather materials and resources to help your team learn and grow

• • Check out the Documents page for downloadable versions of necessary forms such as the IHSA Rules packet, notation sheets, match score sheets, notation tip sheets (helpful for player just learning to notate), communication cards, etc.

  • Check out the Teaching Chess page for some valuable resources for teaching beginning and intermediate chess players the basics of the game

  • Check out the Links and Resources page for valuable links to online resources that you can use and that your team can use to study the game, purchase equipment (info about clocks here), and practice their skills

Make sure you and your team are familiar with the rules of chess

• • Familiarize yourself with the IHSA gameplay rules so that you and your team can learn and follow standard procedures

  • The Rules Review Document can be used as a review or as a guide to help students find and learn the rules that are most important and most common

  • Familiarize yourself with the Swiss Tournament style so that you understand how tournaments are run and how participants are paired. This knowledge will come in handy sooner than you think!

Schedule regular practices

• • Develop a routine for practices…  Most teams practice 2 to 3 days a week for 60-90 minutes

  • If you’re unsure how to run a strong practice that will build a strong team, ask your chess coach colleagues!

Make a team placard!

• • At the IHSA State Chess Team Tournament, teams are required to have a sign, object, or placard that identifies their team

  • Team placards are one way that teams display their personality to the rest of the field