2025-2026 ICCA Division Awards -> Information

[Erik Czerwin]

Coaches,

The ICCA Divisions for the annual ICCA Division awards have been posted.  You can find the groupings in the spreadsheet on the "IHSA State Results" page on the ICCA website here: https://www.ilchesscoach.org/Results/ihsa-state-chess-team-tournament

This year, Divisions 1A-2A-3A kept the same population restrictions.  Division 4A went from 1700-2000 to 1700-2100, 5A went from 2000-2600 to 2100-2650, and 6A moved up to all schools over 2650.  That distribution made the most sense considering the numbers this year.

The results are the number of teams in each division below:

#	Div	Cutoff
27	6A	2650
28	5A	2100
28	4A	1700
28	3A	1200
26	2A	600
24	1A	0

As an aside, I sorted out 161 teams into Divisions this year, same as last year.  So the same number of teams were sorted into Sectional assignments this year as last.  However, the distribution of those teams skewed a bit towards higher population schools.

Overall, we have some record of 185 teams playing this season in either conference matches or tournaments.  That is a new peak, up 5 teams from 2024-25, and up 4 teams from the previous peak in 2023-24.

You can read about the general process I use to create the divisions here.  This is something I don't usually recalculate every year, however, the IHSA has shifted how they calculate divisions for their sports, so I just figured I would update our numbers as well.  I'm glad I did as this year, there would have been a bulge of teams in Divisions 3 and 4 had I not adjusted.

So, all of that being said, best of luck to all the programs at Sectionals this weekend!

And to the coaches and teams that have wrapped up their competitive chess season, please keep up with the news as we'll be sending out ICCA surveys and Coach of the Year ballots the week of February 8th-14th.

As always, if you need any support navigating the post-season, please feel free to reach out!

See you over the boards!

-- Erik Czerwin

Assistant Director of Events - US Chess

Secretary - Illinois Chess Coaches Association

Elevating Chess Experiences - Prairie View Hobbies