Despite going behind early in the first half, they battled back and erased memories of last season's collapse when they threw away a two-goal lead with a late equaliser.
Jimmy Ryan scored from a corner to cancel out Jack Lester's eighth of the season which also came from a corner kick.
In many ways it was a game of two halves with Chesterfield in control before the break while the visitors had the better of the second half.
It certainly did not look good for Accrington when Lester nudged the ball over the line from close range after Kevin Austin knocked it back across the face of goal when the defence failed to clear a corner from Alan Goodall.
Accrington rarely threatened in the first 45 minutes but the introduction of John Miles gave the visitors more purpose going forward and the chances started to flow.
Skipper Paul Mullin had a shot blocked by keeper Trevor Carson before Terry Gornell sent a 20-yard shot just wide in the 56th minute.
But Chesterfield also had chances on the break with Jamie Ward sending a right-foot shot narrowly wide before Lester was denied by an acrobatic save from Kenny Arthur in the 70th minute.
Accrington thought they should have been awarded a penalty 12 minutes from the end when Carson appeared to barge over Gornell and Chesterfield also had justifiable claims for a spot-kick when Lester appeared to be tripped.
But five minutes from time, the visitors won a corner and Miles played it out to Ryan, who met it with a low right-foot drive from just inside the box that found the bottom left corner of Carson's net.