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One of the most vibrant venues on a Tuesday night in the East End's famous street couldn't be a dining spot or a urban fashion label temporary shop, it's a chess gathering – or a chess club-nightclub combination, to be exact.

Knight Club embodies the unlikely crossover between the classic game and the city's dynamic nightlife scene. It was started by a young entrepreneur, in his late twenties, who began his first chess club in August 2023 at a smaller bar in Aldgate, not too far from the current location at Café 1001 on Brick Lane.

“My goal was to make chess clubs for individuals who look like me and those my generation,” he explained. “Typically, chess is only placed in environments that are full of older people, which is not diverse sufficiently.”

Initially, there were only 8 boards shared by sixteen people. Today, a “good night” at the regular club event will attract about two hundred eighty people.

Upon arrival, the venue feels closer to a music night than a chess club. Mixed drinks are flowing and tunes is playing, but the game boards on every table aren't just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all in use and encircled by a line of onlookers eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has frequented the club regularly for the past several months. “I had little understanding of chess before my first visit, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. That was a swift victory, but it made me fascinated to learn and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and half participants genuinely wishing to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to relax, which avoids going to a club to meet others my age.”

An Activity Reborn: The Ancient Game in the Modern Era

In recent years, chess has been cemented in the cultural zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess expanded rapidly during the global health crisis, 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 Sally Rooney’s recent novel Intermezzo, have crafted a certain imagery surrounding the sport, which has attracted a fresh wave of enthusiasts.

But much of this newfound appeal of the chess night isn't always about the intricacies of the game; rather, it is the ease of connecting with others that it facilitates, by taking a chair and engaging with a person who could be a total stranger.

“It is a brilliant clever disguise,” remarked one organizer, co-founder of a local venue in London, a bookshop, reading room, cafe and bar, which has hosted a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “take chess off a pedestal and transform it into like pool in a casual pub”.

“It's a very simple vehicle to meet people. It somewhat removes the weight of the need of conversation from socializing with people. You can handle the awkward part of making an introduction and talking to a new acquaintance over a game instead of with no context around it.”

Growing the Community: Chess Nights Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a recurring chess night held at York’s Cafe, just outside the city centre. “Our observation was that individuals are seeking places where one can go out, socialise and have a good time outside of visiting a bar or club,” stated its founder and organiser, a young leader, in his early twenties.

Together with his associate Abdirahim Haji, also young, he purchased game sets, printed flyers and started the chess club in the start of the year, during his last year of college. Within months, Singh reported their event has grown to draw more than one hundred young players to its events.

“A chess club has a specific reputation to it, about it being reserved. Our approach is to move in the opposite way; it is a social get-together with chess as part of it,” he emphasized.

Discovering and Playing: An Alternative Generation of Chess Enthusiasts

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an introduction to the game. Zoë Kezia, 27, is learning how to participate in chess with fellow attenders of the weekly event at Reference Point. She became curious in the game was piqued after an pleasurable evening moving to music and engaging in chess at a previous the club's events.

“It is a unique idea, but it works,” she said. “It encourages face-to-face interactions instead of digital activities. It's a no-cost third space to meet strangers. It's welcoming, you don't have to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

She humorously likened the popularity of chess with the youth to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to simulate braininess while projecting the appearance of “coolness”. Whether the chess craze has fostered a genuine passion in the sport is not a notion she is entirely sure about. “It's a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she said. “When you compete against opponents who are really dedicated about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Play and Togetherness

It may seem like a some lighthearted activity for individuals looking to employ a chessboard as a networking tool, but serious participants do have their role, even if off the dancefloor.

Another organizer, in her early twenties, who assists in organise Knight Club,says that increasingly competitive attenders have formed a competitive ranking. “People who are part of the competition will face one another, we will go to quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then we'll finally have a league winner.”

A dedicated player, 23, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club nearly every week. “This offers a nice alternative to engaging in serious chess; it provides a sense of belonging,” he said.

“It is interesting to see how it becomes more of a communal activity, because previously the only people who played chess were people who rarely socialize; they just remained home. It is typically just a pair playing on a game board …

“What I like about here is that one isn't really playing against the computer, you are facing live opponents.”