In the fall of 1998, the MasterMinds program and Rochester Interscholastic Chess League program, sponsored by the Rochester Chess Center embarked on a new cooperative venture:  coordinating the scheduling of meets so that both Chess and MasterMinds were scheduled on the same dates, in the same places.  This coordination allows schools the option of combining the transportation budgets for both teams, reducing a significant program cost for many schools.  Schools that determine that there is significant student participation overlap between the two teams do have the option of scheduling their teams in separate leagues and traveling separately.  

Though designed primarily for rural schools with longer transportation runs, both rural, suburban and urban/city schools have all taken advantage of this new opportunity. Participation in the Interscholastic Chess League almost tripled in just two years and some schools that only played Chess have added MasterMinds for their students.

In the 2003-2004 season, this same format of coordinated scheduling began for schools in the Buffalo region. 

Plans for continued expansion into other regions are underway.  

For more information about MasterMinds and Chess, you can call Ron Lohrman, director of the Interscholastic Chess Leagues, at (585) 442-2430,  or MasterMinds Commissioner Scott Kroner at (585) 473-0864.

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Standings, Schedules and Results for the
Interscholastic Chess Competition
are available at
www.nychess.org

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