Mechanics’ Institute Scholastic Team Leaderboard

Season: October 2025 – May 2026

Overview

The Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club is proud to launch the inaugural season of our Scholastic Team Leaderboard Competition!
Open to all schools, the competition tracks team performance across our monthly scholastic tournaments.
To qualify, a school must have at least two participating players.

How It Works

When registering for a Monthly Scholastic Tournament, players will be asked to indicate their school name.
School names will automatically be listed in the processed entries prior to each tournament.
- Please note that no special registration is required for the leaderboard; all participants will be listed.
If you notice an error, please let us know before the Round 1 pairings are posted, or as soon as possible. You can email us at chessroom@milibrary.org or speak with the Tournament Director on site.
Players from the same school will not be paired against one another in Rounds 1–3. In Round 4, they may only face off if competing for first place.
Each player earns individual points based on their final score in the tournament.
All players will appear on the leaderboard, but only the top 4 scorers from each school will count toward the team’s score.

The leaderboard will be updated and posted shortly after each monthly event.

Eligibility

Only school teams are eligible to appear on the leaderboard. Clubs and other organizations are not eligible to participate.
A school will be listed on the leaderboard once it has two or more players competing.
Players who are the sole representative of their school will be listed separately, allowing them to track their individual progress — and hopefully be inspired to invite friends to join and form a team!

Prizes

The year is divided into two seasons:

Fall: October 2025 – January 2026
Spring: February 2026 – May 2026

Prizes will be awarded at the end of each semester (mid-January and mid-May) to the top-performing teams.

Prizes will include a team trophy and additional rewards for all team members. These may include chess books or vouchers for future events.

All team members will receive prizes — not just the top 4 contributors.

Team Playoff

In May 2026, the top schools will be invited to compete in a special team playoff to wrap up the season with a fun, competitive finale!

Details about the format and date will be announced by March 2026.