🔗 Share this article

One of the liveliest locations on a Tuesday evening in the East End's Brick Lane isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion brand temporary shop, it's a chess gathering – or rather a chess and nightlife fusion, precisely speaking.

Knight Club embodies the surprising blend between chess and London's dynamic nightlife culture. It was started by a young entrepreneur, 27, who launched his initial chess club in the summer of 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 create chess clubs for people who look like me and people my generation,” he said. “Typically, chess is only placed in environments that are full of senior individuals, which is not diverse enough.”

Initially, there were only eight boards between sixteen people. Today, a “good night” at the weekly club event will draw approximately two hundred eighty attendees.

Upon arrival, Knight Club feels more like a music night than a chess club. Mixed drinks are being served and tunes is playing, but the chessboards on each table are not just ornamental or there as a novelty: they are all occupied and surrounded by a line of spectators waiting for their turn.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has frequented the club regularly for the past several months. “I had no knowledge of chess before my first visit, and the initial occasion I ever played, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. That was a swift victory, but it left me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she said.

“The event is about half networking and 50% participants genuinely wishing to play chess … It is a nice way to unwind, which doesn't involve visiting a typical nightspot to see other people my age.”

An Activity Reborn: Chess in the Contemporary Era

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the cultural zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess proliferated during the pandemic, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing internet games globally. In popular culture, the Netflix series a hit show, as well as the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct imagery surrounding the game, which has attracted a new generation of players.

But a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess club isn't necessarily about the intricacies of the play; rather, it is the simplicity of social interaction that it enables, by pulling up a chair and playing with someone who may be a complete stranger.

“It is a great Trojan horse,” remarked Jonah Freud, co-founder of Reference Point in London, a bookshop, reading room, coffee house and bar, which has hosted a popular chess club weekly since it began four years ago. Freud’s objective is to “remove chess from its elite status and transform it into similar to billiards in a casual pub”.

“It's a really easy tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the weight of the need of conversation from socializing with people. One can do the awkward part of introducing yourself and chatting to someone over a board instead of with no kind of context involved.”

Expanding the Community: Chess Nights Outside the Capital

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a recurring chess event held at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “Our observation was that individuals are looking for spaces where you can go out, interact and enjoy a fun evening outside of visiting a pub or club,” stated its founder and coordinator, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his friend a partner, 21, Singh bought game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in the start of the year, during his final year of university. Within months, Singh said Chesscafé has expanded to attract more than 100 youthful participants to its gatherings.

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

Learning and Playing: A New Cohort of Players

For many, chess clubs are an introduction to the game. One participant, in her late twenties, is learning how to play chess with other attenders of the weekly event at the venue. Her interest in the pastime was piqued after an enjoyable evening dancing and engaging in chess at a previous the club's events.

“It's a strange idea, but it functions well,” she commented. “It encourages face-to-face interactions rather than screen-based activities. It's a no-cost third space to encounter strangers. It is welcoming, you don't have to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

Kezia jokingly compared the trendiness of chess among young people to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to feign intellectualism while projecting the appearance of “hipness”. If the chess craze has fostered a genuine passion in the game is not something she's quite sure about. “It's a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a trend,” she observed. “When you're playing against opponents who are truly dedicated about it, it quickly becomes less enjoyable.”

Competitive Gaming and Community

It might seem like a bit of lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to employ a game set as a social vehicle, but competitive players certainly have their place, albeit away from the dancefloor.

Another organizer, in her early twenties, who helps organise Knight Club,explains that more skilled players have formed a competitive ranking. “People who are part of the competition will play one another, we'll progress to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we will eventually have a champion.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a year and participates at the club nearly every week. “This is a nice alternative to engaging in intense chess; it gives a feeling of community,” he expressed.

“It's interesting to observe how it evolves into more of a communal pastime, because in the past the only people who engaged in chess were people who didn't socialize; they simply stayed home. It is usually only a pair playing on a chessboard …

“What appeals to me about this place is that you're not really facing the digital opponent, you are engaging with real people.”