As part of its service to chess players in Illinois, as well as its role as the official state affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, the ICA maintains a comprehensive listing of chess activities in the state. The ICA web site offers a variety of event listings to chess clubs and other organizers. For more information, read below, or contact the events coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The following information is about listings in the "Events" section of the il-chess.org site. If you're interested in display advertising on il-chess.org, click here.

Tournaments

ICA will provide a free listing for any chess tournament held in Illinois, whether or not the organizer is an ICA Affiliate Member.

ICA will also list tournaments that take place outside of Illinois. These listings are free for ICA Affiliate members, or $10 per listing for non-affiliates. Listings are also free for USCF national championship events that take place in neighboring states.

Tournaments are listed in chronological order, then in the order in which they were received by the events coordinator.

General notes about chess tournaments

  • Tournaments that have no adult sections are listed on the Tournaments-Scholastic page. Adults cannot play in these tournaments.
  • Tournaments that have adult sections are listed on the Tournaments-Open page. Younger players can also play in many of these tournaments; see individual listings for rating and age restrictions.
  • The Tournaments-All page is a combined listing of scholastic and adult events.
  • All tournaments are USCF-rated, unless otherwise noted and require USCF membership. USCF Memberships may be purchased at most tournaments.
  • Most tournaments prohibit smoking in the playing rooms.
  • Unless otherwise stated please bring your own boards, sets and clocks to events.

Chess Lectures and Programs

This page includes listings of single-day chess lectures, chess fairs, chess programs, simultaneous exhibitions — any one-day chess event that is not a tournament.

ICA provides a free listing on this page for programs that are completely free to the public, or for programs sponsored by ICA Affiliate members. All other listings cost $10 per listing

Chess Camps and Classes

This page includes listings of chess camps, chess classes and chess lecture series — any multi-day chess event that is not a tournament.

Parents are advised to contact camp and class organizers if they have questions about any of the programs listed on this site. The camp, class and lecture listings on this web site are provided as a convenience and a service to the Illinois chess community by the Illinois Chess Association and do not represent sponsorship, endorsement or an affiliation between the ICA and any entity, person or Web site listed or otherwise referenced on this web site.

ICA will provide a free listing on this page for any program that is completely free to the public.

For all other Chess Camps and Classes: the listing fee is $10 per camp session, lecture series, program or class for ICA affiliates, or $20 per camp session, lecture series, program or class for all others. Chess Camps and Classes will be listed in chronological order according to the day the camp or class begins. Organizers who want to promote more than one camp session need to buy one listing for each camp session.

How to List an Event on the ICA Site

Organizers: Please send your event listings to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Events are listed in chronological order, then in the order in which they were received by the events coordinator. Organizers are responsible for the content of their event listings and are expected to review their listings and advise us of errors or corrections.

See above for our policies on various types of event listings. Some listings require payment, as outlined above. Listings that require payment will appear on the event pages after payment is received.

To Pay for an ICA Event Listing

Paying by Check

Send organization name, event name, contact name, contact phone number and email address along with a check or money order (no cash please) payable to

Illinois Chess Association, Inc., and mail to:

Illinois Chess Association
PO Box 822
Prospect Heights, IL 60070

Paying Online
  • You may also pay for individual listings online using our PayPal shop located here.
  • You may send an advertising payment of any amount to ICA via PayPal. Please send funds to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. noting what you are paying for.



Note: The listings on this web site are provided as a convenience and a service to the Illinois chess community by the Illinois Chess Association and do not represent sponsorship, endorsement or an affiliation between the ICA and any entity, person or Web site listed or otherwise referenced on this web site. The Illinois Chess Association and its officers and volunteers are not responsible for errors or omissions on this calendar. ICA reserves the right to edit, categorize, or reject event listings.