🔗 Share this article

One of the most energetic spots on a weekday evening in the East End's Brick Lane couldn't be a dining spot or a urban fashion brand pop-up, it's a chess club – or rather a chess club-nightclub hybrid, to be exact.

Knight Club represents the surprising fusion between chess and the city's fervent evening entertainment scene. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who began his initial chess club in August 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, not too far from the current location at Café 1001 on the iconic lane.

“I wanted to make chess clubs for people who share my background and people my age,” he explained. “Typically, chess is only put in environments that are full of older people, which isn't inclusive sufficiently.”

Initially, there were only eight boards shared by 16 people. Now, a “good night” at the regular Knight Club will attract about 280 people.

At first glance, the venue feels closer to a music night than a chess club. Cocktails are flowing and music is playing, but the chessboards on each table aren't just decorative or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and surrounded by a queue of onlookers eagerly anticipating for their turn.

One regular, in her mid-twenties, has frequented Knight Club often for the past four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before my first visit, and the first time I tried it, I played a game against a grandmaster. It was a quick win, but it left me intrigued to learn and keep playing chess,” she said.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and 50% participants genuinely wanting to play chess … It's a pleasant way to decompress, which doesn't involve visiting a club to meet others my age.”

An Activity Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Modern Era

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the cultural spirit of the times. Its appeal of digital chess expanded rapidly throughout the pandemic, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series a hit show, along with Sally Rooney’s latest novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct iconography surrounding the game, which has attracted a new generation of players.

But a great deal of this recent appeal of the chess club isn't necessarily about the intricacies of the play; instead, it is the ease of social interaction that it facilitates, by taking a chair and engaging with a person who may be a complete unknown individual.

“It is a great clever disguise,” said one organizer, co-founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookshop, reading room, coffee house and lounge, which has hosted a well-attended chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and transform it into like billiards in a dive bar”.

“It is a really easy tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the weight of the need of conversation from interacting with people. One can handle the uncomfortable bit of introducing yourself and chatting to someone over a game rather than with no kind of shared activity around it.”

Growing the Community: Social Gatherings Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a recurring chess event taking place at York’s Cafe, just outside the city centre. “Our observation was that people are seeking spaces where you can socialize, socialise and have a good time outside of visiting a pub or club,” said its founder and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his associate Abdirahim Haji, also young, Singh purchased game sets, printed flyers and started the chess club in the start of the year, during his final year of university. Within months, Singh said Chesscafé has grown to attract over 100 young participants to its gatherings.

“A chess club has a particular reputation associated with it, about it seeming quiet. We really try to move in the opposite way; it's a convivial party with chess involved,” he emphasized.

Learning and Playing: A New Cohort of Players

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 the venue. Her interest in the game was piqued after an pleasurable night dancing and playing chess at a previous the club's events.

“It's a strange idea, but it functions well,” she said. “It promotes face-to-face interactions rather than digital activities. It's a free third space to meet new people. It is welcoming, you don't have to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

Kezia humorously compared the popularity of chess with the youth to the superficial image of the “performative male”, an effort to feign intellectualism while signaling the veneer of “coolness”. Whether the chess trend has fostered a authentic passion in the game is not something she's quite convinced by. “It is a wholesome trend, but it’s very much a fad,” she observed. “Once you compete with opponents who are truly dedicated about it, it quickly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Gaming and Community

It may all be a some fun and games for those aiming to employ a game set as a networking tool, but competitive players certainly have their role, even if off the main party area.

Another organizer, 22, who helps organise Knight Club,explains that increasingly skilled players have formed a league table. “Participants who are in the league will play one another, we will progress to early rounds, advanced stages, and then we will finally have a champion.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess instructor. He has been the competition for about a year and plays at the club almost every week. “This is a welcome option to engaging in serious chess; it gives a feeling of belonging,” he said.

“It's fascinating to see how it evolves into increasingly a communal activity, because previously the only people who played chess were people who rarely go outside; they just remained home. It is usually only two people playing on a game board …

“What appeals to me about here is that one isn't actually facing the computer, you are facing real people.”