🔗 Share this article

One of the most vibrant spots on a Tuesday night in the East End's Brick Lane isn't a restaurant or a streetwear brand temporary shop, it's a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub hybrid, precisely speaking.

This unique venue embodies the unlikely fusion between chess and the city's fervent nightlife culture. It was founded by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who began his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, not too far from the current location at Café 1001 on Brick Lane.

“I wanted to make chess clubs for individuals who look like me and people my generation,” he explained. “Usually, chess is only placed in spaces that are dominated by senior individuals, which isn't diverse enough.”

Initially, there were just 8 boards between sixteen people. Today, a “successful evening” at the regular club event will attract approximately two hundred eighty people.

Upon arrival, Knight Club feels more like a music night than a traditional chess meeting. Cocktails are flowing and tunes 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 encircled by a queue of spectators eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has been attending the club often for the last four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess prior to I came here, and the initial occasion I ever played, I played a game against a grandmaster. That was a swift victory, but it left me fascinated to learn and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about half social and 50% participants actually wanting to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to decompress, which doesn't involve visiting a club to meet others my age.”

A Game Revitalized: Chess in the Modern Era

In recent years, chess has been cemented in the cultural zeitgeist. Its appeal of online chess proliferated during the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes globally. In popular culture, the streaming series The Queen’s Gambit, along with the author's recent novel a literary work, have created a certain iconography associated with the sport, which has drawn in a new generation of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess night is not necessarily about the intricacies 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 complete unknown individual.

“It is a great Trojan horse,” said Jonah Freud, founder of a local venue in the city, a bookstore, reading room, coffee house and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it began several years back. His aim is to “take chess off a pedestal and make it feel similar to billiards in a casual pub”.

“It's a really simple vehicle to meet people. It kind of removes the pressure of the need of conversation away from interacting with people. You can handle the awkward bit of introducing yourself and talking to a new acquaintance over a board instead of with no kind of shared activity involved.”

Expanding the Community: Chess Nights Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a recurring chess night taking place at a city cafe, just outside the city centre. “We found that individuals are looking for spaces where you can go out, interact and enjoy a fun evening beyond visiting a bar or club,” stated its creator and organiser, a young leader, in his early twenties.

Together with his associate Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought chessboards, printed flyers and began the chess club in the start of the year, during his last year of university. In less than a year, Singh said their event has expanded to attract more than 100 young players to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a specific reputation to it, about it being quiet. We really try to go the contrary direction; it is a social get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Discovering and Playing: An Alternative Cohort of Players

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the activity. Zoë Kezia, in her late twenties, is learning how to play chess with other attenders of the weekly event at Reference Point. She became curious in the game was piqued after an pleasurable night dancing and engaging in chess at a previous the club's events.

“It's a unique idea, but it works,” she commented. “It encourages face-to-face exchanges rather than digital pastimes. It is a free third space to encounter new people. It's welcoming, one doesn't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

She jokingly likened the popularity of chess with the youth to the facade of the “performative male”, an effort to feign braininess while signaling the appearance of “coolness”. If the chess craze has fostered a genuine passion in the sport is not something she is quite sure about. “It's a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she said. “Once you're playing with people who are truly dedicated about it, it rapidly becomes less enjoyable.”

Competitive Gaming and Togetherness

It may all be a bit of fun and games for those looking to employ a game set as a social vehicle, but serious participants do have their place, albeit away from the dancefloor.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, in her early twenties, who helps running Knight Club,says that more competitive players have formed a competitive ranking. “People who are part of the competition will face each other, we'll progress to early rounds, advanced stages, and then we will finally have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, 23, is a competitive competitor and chess instructor. He has been in the league for about a twelve months and participates at the club almost every week. “This offers a nice alternative to engaging in serious chess; it gives a feeling of community,” he said.

“It is interesting to see how it becomes increasingly a social pastime, because previously the sole people who played chess were people who didn't go outside; they simply stayed home. It's typically just two people competing on a game board …

“The thing I like about this place is that one isn't really facing the computer, you are facing live opponents.”