2026 IHSA State Wrap-Up

[Erik Czerwin]

Coaches,

Thanks for an incredible High School chess season.  IESA will wrap up their season in a couple of weeks, and then there's HS Nationals on the horizon (early entry fee ends TODAY!)

All IHSA results can be found here: https://www.ihsa.org/data/ct/crosstable.htm

I've processed those results and posted the IHSA Division Results here: https://www.ilchesscoach.org/Results/ihsa-state-chess-team-tournament

Congrats to all of the IHSA Award Winners:

Division	Trnmt Rank	Pts	Tie- Break	School	Enrollment
6A	1	7	125.7	Lincolnshire (Stevenson)	4720
6A	2	6	112.6	Aurora (Waubonsie Valley)	2717
3A	3	6	103.9	Chicago (Payton)	1251
3A	4	6	102	Dunlap	1416
6A	5	6	101.1	Naperville (Neuqua Valley)	2977
6A	6	6	94.4	Glenview (Glenbrook South)	2921
5A	7	6	85.8	Hinsdale (Central)	2401
4A	8	6	80.9	Normal (Community)	2021

And all of the ICCA Division Award Winners.  The ICCA will prepare those awards and send them directly to the schools for distribution to the teams

6A - Evanston (Twp.)

5A - Palatine (Fremd)

4A - Chicago (Whitney Young)

3A - Aurora (IMSA)

2A - Normal (University)

1A - Urbana (University)

Also, Congrats to Coach Mikahil Korenman, our 2026 ICCA Coach of the Year.  Find his listing and all the info about the Mike Zacate Coach of the Year Award here: https://www.ilchesscoach.org/about/coach-of-the-year

The entire season, and all the previous seasons, can be tracked on the ICCA data sheet (which I also updated this morning!), which can be found here: https://goo.gl/42pYk7

BE SURE to send all of your feedback for the IHSA tournaments, rules, terms, and conditions to your advisory committee memebrs.  They may also reach out to you for feedback.  The Advisory Committee info is found here: https://www.ihsa.org/sports/chess/advisory-committee and they will meet on March 20th this year, so send those thoughts while they're fresh!

Ok, that's more than enough for now.  Enjoy your after-state buzz, and if you need anything, please always feel free to reach out!!  Otherwise, look for the March Newsletter after I'm done processing a bunch of other items.

See y'all over the boards!

And don't forget that the USAT-N tournament is in Schaumburg next weekend.  I can't wait to see you and your players there having a blast at the most fun event after IHSA.  And of course, don't forget to remind your feeder programs of the Illinois K8 Championship coming up in early March!

-- Erik Czerwin

Assistant Director of Events - US Chess

Secretary - Illinois Chess Coaches Association

Elevating Chess Experiences - Prairie View Hobbies