National Chess Day

About National Chess Day

How long until National Chess Day?
National Chess Day .		Add to calendar
Dates of National Chess Day
2026 USAOct 10 USA Sat, Oct 10Observances Holiday 2025 USAOct 11 USA Sat, Oct 11Observances Holiday 2024 USAOct 12 USA Sat, Oct 12Observances Holiday 2023 USAOct 14 USA Sat, Oct 14Observances Holiday 2022 USAOct 8 USA Sat, Oct 8Observances Holiday
Summary
Find out the dates, history and traditions of National Chess Day

National Chess Day is recognized on the second Saturday in October, and serious, casual, young, and old players are encouraged to get together on this day and play this great game with an ancient and illustrious history!

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford announced and designated National Chess Day on October 9, 1976.

The first computer chess victory over a human came on February 10th 1996 when IBM's Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in 34 moves in Philadelphia, PA —the first such victory by a computer in tournament conditions. Kasparov, however, went on to win the tournament, defeating the computer three times (the other two matches were draws). In May 1997, in a six-game rematch, Deep Blue emerged the overall victor. Deep Blue, an RS/6000 supercomputer, can evaluate 200 million chess positions a second but is not capable of using artificial intelligence to "learn." Kasparov was reigning World Chess Champion from 1985 to 2000.

All events on October 11th 2025