International Chess Day 2024: Theme, Date, Facts and History

Every year 20 July is observed as World Chess Day to commemorate the establishment of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) or World Chess Federation in 1924. Also known as International Chess Day, the day is celebrated by over six hundred million regular chess players around the world. Considered as old as 1500 years, it is speculated that the game of Chess originated in India and was known by the name ‘Chaturanga’.

World Chess Day Date
Below mentioned are the upcoming dates for World Chess Day for the next 4 years.

World Chess Day Theme

Did you know?

Here are some mind-blowing facts you didn’t know about Chess:

1. The sequence of moves of a knight on a 8 x 8 chessboard is about 26,534,728,821,064 closed tours.
2. In November 1988, Deep Thought became the first computer to beat an international grandmaster.
3. The longest chess game ever played was between Ivan Nikolic vs Goran Arsovic, which ended in 269 moves with a draw.
4. There are approximately 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the first 10 moves of a game of chess.
5. The word “Checkmate” in Chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” meaning “the King is dead.”
6. The game of Chess began in India during the Gupta Empire and spread to the Persian Sassanid Empire. After Muslims conquered Persia, Chess gained popularity to the Middle East after Muslims and then to Europe and Russia.
7. The title of World Chess Champion for the longest time, about 27 years from 1894 to 1920, is held by a German doctor named Emanuel Lasker.
8. The first mechanical clock to be used as a timer in Chess was invented in 1883 by Thomas Wilson in England. It was known as ‘tumbling’ chess clock.
9. The only chess master to win the world championship in all three formats, knockout, tournament and match, is Vishwanathan Anand.
10. There are 400 different possible positions after one move each, 72,084 after two moves each, 9 million after three moves each and 318 billion after four moves each.

History of World Chess Day

Chess players all around the world have been celebrating Chess Day on July 20 since 1966. An initiative was carried out by FIDE for in provision of observing the day internationally and it was put forward in front of the United Nations general Assembly.

To mark the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924, the General Assembly finally adopted the proclamation on 12 December 2019 and since 2020, the World Chess Day is observed every year globally.

How to celebrate World Chess Day 2023?

Every year on Chess Day, FIDE and its 181 chess federation members organize chess events and competitions all around the world. People can also conduct events and tournaments among their family and friends to observe this day. Those who do not know the game should try and learn how to play it. They can join clubs or ask their friends to teach them some moves.

Those enthusiastic of the game can also learn to play it online and then find someone to play with. People who know how to play are encouraged to find the friends and family members who do not know how to play and teach them the basic of chess.

International Days in July