Abstract: Nineteen chickpea varieties were evaluated for their reaction to ascochyta blight following detached-leaf and whole-plant inoculation with an aggressive isolate of Ascochyta rabiei. The same varieties were also evaluated under field conditions following inoculations with chickpea residues infected with ascochyta blight. A wide range of variation was observed among the varieties for disease severity, stem lesion length, lesion number and pycnidial density. Positive correlations between stem lesion length, pycnidial density and disease severity indicated that stem lesion length or pycnidial density may be an indicator of disease resistance. Among the chickpea entries tested, two varieties with compound leaves (desi cv. Myles, kabuli cv. CDC Chico) were relatively resistant. Blight severity was consistently higher on unifoliate varieties compared to those with compound leaves, irrespective of evaluation methods. These results suggest that avoiding the cultivation of unifoliate-leaved chickpea varieties in the Albertan agro-ecosystems. Instead, breeders need to focus on developing compound-leaved varieties with improved ascochyta blight resistance for sustainable chickpea production.