| Abbreviation | ICGA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1977 (as ICCA) |
| Type | Academic and scientific association |
| Purpose | Research and competitions in computer games and artificial intelligence |
President | Richard Pijl |
| Website | icga.org |
The International Computer Games Association (ICGA), formerly known as the International Computer Chess Association (ICCA), is an international organization dedicated to research, software development, and competitive tournaments in computer chess and game artificial intelligence. Founded in 1977 by computer chess programmers, the association publishes the quarterly ICGA Journal and organizes major academic conferences and computer game competitions, including the World Computer Chess Championship and the Computer Olympiad.
The organization was established in 1977 as the International Computer Chess Association (ICCA) to coordinate championship events for chess-playing computer programs and to facilitate the exchange of technical research among programmers. At the time of its founding, computer chess was a primary benchmark for research in artificial intelligence and heuristic search.
As computer game research expanded beyond chess to encompass other two-player and multi-player strategy games—such as Go, checkers, shogi, and Awari—the organization broadened its scope. Its flagship publication was renamed from the ICCA Journal to the ICGA Journal in 2000, and the organization formally transitioned from the ICCA to the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) in 2002.
The ICGA publishes the peer-reviewed quarterly ICGA Journal, which covers computer analysis of strategy games, search algorithms, endgame tablebases, and solved games. The journal was edited by Dutch computer scientist Jaap van den Herik from 1983 until 2015. The association also publishes refereed conference proceedings, notably through Springer.
The association sanctions and organizes several recurring tournaments for game-playing programs:
The ICGA organizes two primary academic conferences focused on artificial intelligence and game tree search:
The organization has been led by the following presidents since its founding as the ICCA in 1977:
| President | Organization | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Mittman | ICCA | 1977–1983 |
| Monroe Newborn | ICCA | 1983–1986 |
| David Levy | ICCA | 1986–1992 |
| Tony Marsland | ICCA | 1992–1999 |
| David Levy | ICCA / ICGA | 1999–2019 |
| Jonathan Schaeffer | ICGA | 2019–2025 |
| Richard Pijl | ICGA | 2025–present |