National Chess Day Preview: Y Not Chess Three Simultaneous Scholastics

What are your National Chess Day plans? This year’s festivities, set for Saturday, October 11, are exactly two months away. This is a great time to find a tournament in your area or even consider running one yourself!

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In order to encourage affiliates to host events, US Chess is offering free email blasts and waived rating fees for tournaments hosted on this day.

On Chess Life Online, we plan on sharing some of the events planned for National Chess Day that have caught our eye. Feel free to email Click here to show email address with information about your event if you would be interested in possibly being featured in a future article such as this one.

For this year’s National Chess Day (NCD), Y Not Chess is simultaneously hosting scholastic tournaments in Cleveland, Louisville, and Milwaukee. Y Not Chess’s founder, Tony Dunlap Sr., explained his motivation, stating that, “We aim to make chess more accessible, inclusive, and meaningful for youth, especially those from underserved backgrounds.”

Dunlap’s partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is designed to deliver transformative scholastic programming across the fraternity's network of members and chapters by combining competitive chess with mentorship, academic enrichment, and leadership development, targeting youth from underserved communities.

Last month, Director of Programs DeVaughn Croxton interviewed Dunlap for his Beyond the Board podcast. Dunlap explained his vision in more detail, chronicling the past decade of Y Not Chess’s work and future goals.

For the simultaneous events, Dunlap plans to use live communication feeds from each location to make the tournaments feel like one unified event. The format is a perfect fit for NCD, given the intended festival atmosphere. As Dunlap explained, “Available door prizes, potential scholarships, job internships, and other planned activities make our tournaments more of an event than a regular scholastic chess tournament.”

Besides the three NCD events, Alpha chapters in Illinois (Oct 4th), Michigan (Oct 18th). Plus, chapters in Indiana, Missouri, and Minnesota are planning to host tournaments this fall. “We plan to host tournaments in all 50 states,” Dunlap said, “That's a movement.”