Fall Chess Tournament and Camp Guide

After a terrific summer, Fall Semester is in full flight. We're in the second full week, but registration is still open (see full club schedule below), so please circle in friends and classmates for the coming year of chess excellence.

We're all set to launch the new season of competitive training and play starting next week (see video below), and we have a complete schedule of strong training opportunities for players of all levels, from all teams both within ICN and without.

Our training play, at both camps and Grand Prixs, build off the club & classroom lessons and activities, and better prepare our players & teams for monthly team tournaments, and then for the NY State All-Girls in November, Grade Nationals in December, but also for the trio of big spring championships: NY States, All-Girls Nationals, and Elementary Nationals.

Here is the overview of our main training features:

ICN Saturday Grand Prix happens at five locations around the city, and features AM and PM sessions to work around schedules (3 rounds of game/25 d5), with many kids staying for the day and playing both sessions, for a total of six rated games, with game analysis between rounds.

ICN Saturday Elite Quads happen at two locations (St Luke's in Manhattan, and PS 32 in Brooklyn), and features three rounds of game/60 d5 with game analysis. Players must be 1000+ USCF for the full day Quads. Our St Luke's site now features two different playing time options for Saturdays!

ICN School Closure Training Camps are full-day drop-off camps including lunch, with rated games, analysis, lessons, outdoor activity, art, and much more.

ICN Monthly Team Tournaments happen the first Sunday of every month, and feature full-day drop-off tournament play with game analysis and team coaching, giving our teams a chance to build momentum for the bigger travel events.

Don't miss our first camp day coming up on October 3rd & 4th. We'll now feature five camp sites around NYC: Midtown West, Upper East Side, Lower East Side, PS 230 in Brooklyn -- and now our ICN Elite Training Camps for players over 1200+ USCF. The ICN Elite Training Camps will now run exclusively at St Luke's in midtown.

Having added several strong new programs, I expect the competition will be deep!

Russ Makofsky