Chess Coaches in Louisiana

The Louisiana Chess Association (LCA) is the state's official US Chess Federation affiliate and runs the annual Louisiana State Championship along with scholastic events statewide. New Orleans carries most of the state's club activity: the Greater New Orleans Chess Club meets weekly in the city, the New Orleans Westbank Chess Club has been going since 1977, and the Downriver Chess Club of New Orleans has become the main organizer behind the state's biggest tournaments. Baton Rouge has its own long-running Baton Rouge Chess Club. In 2025 the Louisiana State Championship, held at Loyola University New Orleans over Labor Day weekend, drew GM Hikaru Nakamura, who won the open section with a perfect 7/7 while logging classical games toward Candidates qualification — though the actual state title went to the top-finishing Louisiana resident. The state's chess history is anchored by Paul Morphy, born in New Orleans in 1837, whose brief but dominant career made him a legend of 19th-century chess.

• The Louisiana State Championship, organized through the Downriver Chess Club of New Orleans and the LCA, is the state's marquee event and occasionally attracts touring grandmasters.
• New Orleans has several standing weekly clubs — the Greater New Orleans Chess Club and the New Orleans Westbank Chess Club (going since 1977) — plus casual street play in the French Quarter.
• Baton Rouge's Baton Rouge Chess Club gives the state capital its own regular meetup outside the New Orleans scene.