🔗 Share this article

Among the most vibrant venues on a weekday night in east London's Brick Lane isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion brand temporary shop, it is a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub fusion, precisely speaking.

This unique venue embodies the unlikely fusion between the classic game and the city's fervent evening entertainment scene. It was founded by a young entrepreneur, 27, who began his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in Aldgate, a short distance from the current location at Café 1001 on the iconic lane.

“I wanted to make chess clubs for people who look like me and people my age,” he explained. “Usually, chess is only put in spaces that are dominated by senior individuals, which is not inclusive enough.”

Initially, there were only 8 boards shared by 16 people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly club event will draw about two hundred eighty people.

Upon arrival, Knight Club feels closer to a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Cocktails are flowing and music is in the air, but the game boards on each table aren't just decorative or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and surrounded by a line of onlookers eagerly anticipating for their turn.

One regular, in her mid-twenties, has frequented the club often for the past four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before I came here, and the initial occasion I ever played, I played a game against a expert player. That 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 participants genuinely wanting to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to relax, which avoids going to a club to see other people my age.”

A Game Reborn: Chess in the Contemporary Age

In recent years, chess has been cemented in the cultural zeitgeist. Its appeal of online chess proliferated during the pandemic, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding online games in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series a hit show, along with the author's recent novel a literary work, have created a certain iconography associated with the game, which has drawn in a new wave of players.

However a great deal of this newfound appeal of the chess club is not necessarily about the technicalities of the play; rather, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by pulling up a chair and engaging with someone who could be a total stranger.

“It's a brilliant Trojan horse,” remarked Jonah Freud, founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookstore, reading room, cafe and lounge, which has hosted a popular chess club weekly since it opened four years ago. Freud’s objective is to “remove chess from its elite status and make it feel similar to pool in a dive bar”.

“It's a really simple vehicle to meet people. It kind of takes the weight of the necessity of conversation from interacting with people. You can handle the uncomfortable bit of introducing yourself and talking to a new acquaintance across a board instead of with no kind of context involved.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Beyond London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a recurring chess event taking place at a city cafe, near the downtown area. “Our observation was that people are seeking spaces where you can socialize, interact and have a fun evening outside of visiting a pub or club,” said its founder and coordinator, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Alongside his friend Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought chessboards, created promotional materials and began the chess club in the start of the year, during his final year of college. Within months, he said their event has expanded to draw more than one hundred youthful participants to its events.

“Such a venue has a specific connotation associated with it, about it seeming quiet. Our approach is to move in the contrary direction; it's a social get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Discovering and Playing: An Alternative Generation of Chess Enthusiasts

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an introduction to the activity. Zoë Kezia, 27, is learning how to play chess with other visitors of chess night at Reference Point. She became curious in the pastime was piqued after an enjoyable evening moving to music and engaging in chess at one of the club's occasions.

“It is a unique concept, but it functions well,” she said. “It encourages in-person exchanges rather than digital pastimes. It's a no-cost neutral ground to encounter strangers. It is inviting, you don't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

Kezia humorously compared the trendiness of chess among the youth to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to simulate intellectualism while projecting the veneer of “coolness”. If the chess trend has cultivated a genuine passion in the game is not a notion she is entirely convinced by. “It's a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a trend,” she said. “When you compete against opponents who are truly serious about it, it rapidly becomes less enjoyable.”

Competitive Play and Community

It might seem like a some lighthearted activity for individuals looking to employ a chessboard as a networking tool, but serious players certainly have their place, albeit off the main party area.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, in her early twenties, who assists in organise Knight Club,explains that increasingly skilled players have formed a competitive ranking. “People who are in the league will face one another, we'll progress to early rounds, advanced stages, and then we will eventually have a champion.”

Ryames Chan, in his twenties, is a serious player and chess teacher. He joined in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club nearly weekly. “This is a welcome option to engaging in intense chess; it gives a feeling of belonging,” he expressed.

“It is fascinating to observe how it evolves into increasingly a social activity, because previously the sole individuals who played chess were people who rarely socialize; they simply remained home. It is usually just a pair competing on a chessboard …

“The thing appeals to me about this place is that one isn't actually facing the computer, you're facing live opponents.”