🔗 Share this article

Among the most vibrant venues on a Tuesday night in east London's Brick Lane couldn't be a dining spot or a urban fashion brand pop-up, it is a chess club – or rather a chess club-nightclub hybrid, precisely speaking.

This unique venue represents the surprising blend between the classic game and the city's dynamic evening entertainment scene. It was founded by a young entrepreneur, 27, who launched his first chess club in August 2023 at a more intimate bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the current location at Café 1001 on Brick Lane.

“My goal was to make chess clubs for individuals who look like me and people my generation,” he explained. “Typically, chess is only put in spaces that are dominated by senior individuals, which is not inclusive enough.”

Initially, there were only eight boards shared by sixteen people. Now, a “good night” at the weekly Knight Club will attract approximately 280 attendees.

Upon arrival, Knight Club feels more like a music night than a chess club. Cocktails are being served and tunes is playing, but the chessboards on each table are not just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all occupied and encircled by a queue of onlookers waiting for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has frequented Knight Club often for the past four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess prior to I came here, and the first time I tried it, I competed in a game against a grandmaster. It was a swift victory, but it left me intrigued to learn and keep playing chess,” she said.

“The event is about half social and half people actually wanting to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to relax, which doesn't involve going to a club to meet other people my generation.”

A Game Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Era

Lately, chess has been cemented in the societal zeitgeist. Its appeal of digital chess proliferated during the pandemic, making it one of the fastest-growing online games in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series a hit show, along with the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have crafted a certain imagery surrounding the game, which has drawn in a fresh generation of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess night is not always about the technicalities of the game; instead, it is the ease of connecting with others that it enables, by taking a seat and engaging with someone who may be a total unknown individual.

“It's a great clever disguise,” remarked one organizer, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookshop, library, cafe and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess from its elite status and transform it into like billiards in a dive bar”.

“It is a really simple vehicle to meet people. It somewhat removes the weight of the necessity of conversation from socializing with people. You can handle the uncomfortable bit of making an introduction and talking to someone over a game rather than with no shared activity around it.”

Growing the Community: Social Gatherings Beyond the Capital

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a regular chess event taking place at a city cafe, near the city centre. “We found that individuals are seeking spaces where you can socialize, interact and enjoy a fun evening outside of going to a bar or nightclub,” stated its creator and coordinator, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his friend Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought game sets, printed promotional materials and began the chess club in the start of the year, while in his final year of university. In less than a year, Singh said Chesscafé has expanded to draw over one hundred young participants to its events.

“Such a venue has a particular reputation associated with it, about it being reserved. Our approach is to move in the opposite way; it is a social get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Learning and Engaging: A New Generation of Chess Enthusiasts

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. Zoë Kezia, in her late twenties, is learning how to play chess with other attenders of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the pastime was piqued after an pleasurable evening moving to music and engaging in chess at one of the club's occasions.

“It's a strange concept, but it works,” she commented. “It encourages in-person exchanges instead of screen-based activities. It is a no-cost third space to encounter new people. It is inviting, you don't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

Kezia humorously compared the trendiness of chess among young people to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to simulate braininess while signaling the veneer of “hipness”. If the chess trend has fostered a authentic passion in the game isn't a notion she's quite sure about. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a fad,” she said. “When you're playing against people who are really serious about it, it quickly turns less enjoyable.”

Serious Gaming and Togetherness

It might seem like a some fun and games for individuals looking to employ a game set as a networking tool, but serious participants do have their place, even if away from the main party area.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, in her early twenties, who assists in running the club,says that increasingly competitive players have established a league table. “Participants who are in the league will face one another, we'll progress to quarter-finals, advanced stages, and then we will finally have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, 23, is a serious player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a year and plays at the club almost weekly. “This offers a nice alternative to playing serious chess; it provides a feeling of community,” he said.

“It's interesting to see how it evolves into more of a communal activity, because previously the sole individuals who played chess were people who didn't socialize; they just stayed home. It's typically just two people competing on a game board …

“The thing I like about this place is that you're not really facing the digital opponent, you are engaging with real people.”