The Indie Rock Chess Federation (IRCF) is a newly formed competitive chess organization for individuals affiliated with the independent music industry. Inspired by the Hip-Hop Chess Federation http://www.hiphopchessfederation.org (HHCF), the IRCF's ultimate goal is to challenge the HHCF in a chess face-off between the two musical worlds.
Launched in early 2008 by members of independent music powerhouse West Indian Girl, in conjunction with Lusso Labs,LLC, the IRCF is currently run by West Indian Girl bass player, Francis Ten.
The honorary coach and mentor to this fledgling organization is International Chess Master Jeremy Silman. According to official IRCF documents, "Jeremy will officially serve as our unofficial consigliere/mentor/hero and coach. Obviously, he won't be playing in the tournaments because he would wipe our asses pretty quickly but he WILL be showing his face and loitering at our events and maybe even playing a few exhibition games. Hopefully, he will guide us on our spiritual chess journey like Yoda".
The motto of the IRCF is "Chess is war: take no prisoners, show no mercy". The unofficial slogan of the IRCF is "Chess players mate better".
The structure of the IRCF chess tournaments are "NCAA bracket-style best of 5 in 5 minute speed/blitz games" with the winner advancing to the next stage. The inaugural weekend IRCF tournament took place on March 21 and 22 in Culver City, CA. The results of the tournament are not yet publicly available.
Membership is limited to those who are affiliated with the independent music industry. The founding members include Francis Ten (West Indian Girl), Joe Puleio (Lusso), Robert James (West Indian Girl), and Adamn Labov (Jupiter Productions).