New - Fall Chess League Starts Saturday

We are now well into our Fall Semester, and it's wonderful to see our teams and clubs back together and with more teams and players than ever before. Registration remains open (see full club schedule below), so please invite your friends and classmates.

We're all set to launch the new season including our new ICN Chess League, which tracks and awards both teams and individual players. Starting this Saturday, we have a complete schedule of strong playing and training opportunities for players of all levels, from all teams both within ICN and city-wide.

All of our training events, including Camps, Grand Prix, or Team Tournaments, 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 in Baltimore in May 2026.

We have made significant changes to our training structure & schedule, to ensure that players from all our teams and at all levels will have a full and rigorous training schedule. Please watch this video to get a fuller understanding of our new training vision.

Saturdays:

Weekly Grand Prix: our Saturday Grand Prix format hasn't changed at all; it's still three rounds in the AM (9-12) and three rounds in the PM (12-3). Additionally, we are now happy to offer Elite Quads 1000 + USCF at all locations. These will be full day events starting at 9:00 am featuring three rounds of Game/60 d/5. Our Elite Clubhouse at St. Lukes will run Elite Quads 1500 +.



Monthly Saturday:


Our Team Tournaments have long been the anchor event for our teams to develop shared goals and vision while training and improving their games. We have moved our Team Tournaments from Sundays to Saturdays, to give our families and employees back a day of togetherness and rest.


Our new Varsity Team format will give our top competitive players from across both Manhattan and Brooklyn an opportunity to compete against each other on a monthly basis along with access to longer time controls (G60, D5).



*Our Varsity Team Tournament sections (at IS 318) will be:

  • Primary Open (Gr. K -3) - 800+ USCF - (G/60 d5)

  • Elementary Open (Gr. 4 -5) - 1000+ USCF - (G/60 d5)

  • MS + HS Open (Gr. 6 -12) -1200+ USCF - (G/60 d5)


*Our Junior Varsity Team Tournament sections (at PS 33 in Manhattan and PS 230 in Brooklyn) will be:

  • K-1 Open - (G/45 d5)

  • Primary Under 800 (Gr. K -3) - (G/45 d5)

  • Elementary Under 1000 (Gr. 4 -5) - (G/45 d5)

  • MS + HS Under 1200 (Gr. 6 -12) - (G/45 d5)


School Closure Camps + Festivals:


Our full day training camps will run almost every day school is closed, and as always will give all levels of players access to accelerated learning and development. Our Elite Clubhouse @ Luke's will have a new higher rating minimum, due to our growing elite competitive community and the space constraints of the Clubhouse. It will now be a 1500+ USCF peak rating for players to camp at Luke's (peak meaning a player needs to have attained 1500 at some point but need not be live-rated over the threshold).





Our training and development vision is centered around our ICN League, which tracks our best teams and players in the three main player categories in which they operate: the K-1 division, the Primary division (2nd & 3rd grade players), and the Elementary division (4th & 5th grade players).


As we prepare for the 2026-2027 Championship cycle, our League will be our north star for gauging our team and players strength as we work towards our goals.


Fall Program Schedule:


  • School based Chess Club & Team sessions will start directly after-school. Chess Club & Team pickup will be at 5:00 pm with a 6:00 pm late-pickup option at most programs.

  • All programs will follow the NYC school calendar.

  • School based programs are open to only students attending those schools.

  • Saturday Grand Prix start at 9:00 am

  • Monthly Team tournaments start at 9:00 am


Mondays:



Tuesdays:



Wednesdays:



Thursdays:



Fridays:


Russ Makofsky