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One of the most vibrant venues on a weekday night in east London's famous street isn't a restaurant or a streetwear brand pop-up, it's a chess club – or rather a chess club-nightclub combination, to be exact.

This unique venue embodies the surprising crossover between chess and the city's dynamic evening entertainment scene. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who launched his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the present location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

“My goal was to create chess clubs for people who share my background and those my generation,” he said. “Usually, chess is only placed in environments that are dominated by senior individuals, which isn't inclusive enough.”

On the first night, there were just eight boards between sixteen people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly Knight Club will draw about two hundred eighty people.

Upon arrival, the venue feels more like a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are flowing and music is in the air, but the game boards on each table are not just ornamental or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and encircled by a queue of onlookers waiting for their turn.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has frequented Knight Club regularly for the past four months. “I had little understanding of chess prior to I came here, and the initial occasion I ever played, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. That was a quick victory, but it made me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she said.

“This gathering is about half social and half people actually wishing to engage in chess … It's a nice way to decompress, which doesn't involve visiting a club to see others my age.”

An Activity Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Age

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the cultural spirit of the times. Its appeal of digital chess expanded rapidly during the global health crisis, making it one of the most rapidly expanding online games globally. Across media, the Netflix series a hit show, along with Sally Rooney’s latest novel a literary work, have created a certain iconography surrounding the sport, which has attracted a new generation of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this recent attraction of the chess night isn't always about the intricacies of the game; rather, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by taking a seat and playing with a person who could be a complete stranger.

“It is a brilliant Trojan horse,” said Jonah Freud, co-founder of Reference Point in London, a bookstore, library, coffee house and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it began several years back. His objective is to “take chess from its elite status and transform it into like pool in a dive bar”.

“It is a really easy vehicle to get to know people. It kind of takes the weight of the need of conversation from socializing with people. You can handle the awkward bit of making an introduction and chatting to someone across a game instead of with no context involved.”

Growing the Community: Social Gatherings Outside London

In Birmingham, a similar initiative is a recurring chess event held at a city cafe, just outside the city centre. “Our observation was that people are looking for places where one can socialize, socialise and have a fun evening outside of going to a bar or nightclub,” stated its creator and coordinator, a young leader, in his early twenties.

Alongside his associate Abdirahim Haji, also young, Singh bought game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in the start of the year, while in his final year of university. In less than a year, Singh reported their event has grown to attract more than one hundred youthful players to its events.

“A chess club has a specific connotation associated with it, about it being reserved. Our approach is to go the opposite direction; it is a convivial party with chess involved,” he said.

Learning and Playing: An Alternative Cohort of Chess Enthusiasts

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. One participant, in her late twenties, is learning how to play chess with other visitors of the weekly event 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 Knight Club's occasions.

“It's a strange concept, but it works,” she said. “It promotes in-person exchanges rather than screen-based pastimes. It is a no-cost neutral ground to meet strangers. It's welcoming, you don't need to necessarily be good at chess.”

Kezia humorously likened the trendiness of chess with the youth to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to feign intellectualism while projecting the appearance of “coolness”. If the chess trend has cultivated a genuine interest in the sport is not a notion she's entirely sure about. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she observed. “When you compete with opponents who are really dedicated about it, it quickly turns less enjoyable.”

Serious Play and Togetherness

It may all be a some lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to use a chessboard as a social vehicle, but competitive participants do have their place, albeit away from the dancefloor.

Another organizer, 22, who helps running Knight Club,says that increasingly competitive attenders have established a competitive ranking. “Participants who are in the league will face one another, we'll go to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we'll eventually have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He joined the competition for about a year and participates at the club almost weekly. “This offers a nice alternative to engaging in serious chess; it gives a sense of belonging,” he said.

“It is interesting to see how it becomes increasingly a communal pastime, because in the past the sole individuals who played chess were those who didn't socialize; they simply remained home. It is usually only a pair playing on a chessboard …

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