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Among the liveliest venues on a Tuesday evening in east London's Brick Lane couldn't be a restaurant or a urban fashion label temporary shop, it is a chess club – or rather a chess club-nightclub fusion, to be exact.

This unique venue embodies the surprising blend between chess and London's fervent evening entertainment scene. It was started by a young entrepreneur, 27, who launched his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in a nearby area, not too far from the current location at a popular cafe on the iconic lane.

“I wanted to make chess clubs for individuals who look like me and those my age,” he said. “Typically, chess is only placed in environments that are dominated by older people, which is not inclusive enough.”

Initially, there were only eight boards shared by 16 people. Now, a “good night” at the regular Knight Club will draw approximately two hundred eighty people.

At first glance, the venue seems more like a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are flowing and tunes is playing, but the game boards on every table are not just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all in use and encircled by a queue of onlookers eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has frequented Knight Club often for the past several months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before my first visit, and the first time I tried it, I played a game with a expert player. It was a quick victory, but it left me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she said.

“This gathering is about half social and 50% people genuinely wishing to engage in chess … It is a nice way to relax, which avoids visiting a club to meet others my generation.”

A Game Revitalized: Chess in the Modern Era

In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess expanded rapidly during the pandemic, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding internet games globally. In popular culture, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, as well as the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have crafted a distinct iconography surrounding the game, which has attracted a fresh generation of enthusiasts.

But a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess night isn't always about the technicalities of the game; instead, it is the simplicity of social interaction that it enables, by pulling up a seat and engaging with a person who may be a complete stranger.

“It's a brilliant clever disguise,” remarked Jonah Freud, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookshop, library, cafe and bar, which has hosted a well-attended chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s objective is to “remove chess off a pedestal and make it feel similar to pool in a casual pub”.

“It is a very easy tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the pressure of the necessity of conversation from interacting with people. One can handle the awkward part of introducing yourself and talking to a new acquaintance over a game instead of with no kind of shared activity around it.”

Expanding the Network: Chess Nights Beyond the Capital

In Birmingham, Chesscafé is a regular chess event held at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “We found that individuals are looking for spaces where one can go out, interact and enjoy a good time beyond going to a pub or nightclub,” said its creator and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his associate a partner, also young, he bought game sets, printed promotional materials and began the chess club in the start of the year, during his final year of university. In less than a year, Singh reported Chesscafé has expanded to attract more than one hundred young players to its gatherings.

“A chess club has a particular reputation associated with it, about it seeming reserved. We really try to move in the contrary direction; it's a convivial party with chess as part of it,” he emphasized.

Learning and Engaging: A New Cohort of Chess Enthusiasts

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. Zoë Kezia, 27, is picking up how to play chess with fellow visitors of chess night at Reference Point. Her interest in the pastime was piqued after an pleasurable evening moving to music and engaging in chess at one of Knight Club's occasions.

“It is a unique idea, but it works,” she commented. “It encourages in-person interactions rather than screen-based pastimes. It's a free third space to meet strangers. It is welcoming, one doesn't have to necessarily be good at chess.”

She humorously compared the trendiness of chess with young people to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to feign intellectualism while signaling the veneer of “hipness”. If the chess craze has cultivated a authentic interest in the game is not something she's entirely convinced by. “It's a positive phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she observed. “Once you compete with people who are really serious about it, it quickly becomes less fun.”

Serious Gaming and Togetherness

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

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, in her early twenties, who assists in organise Knight Club,says that increasingly competitive players have established a competitive ranking. “People who are in the league will play one another, we'll progress to early rounds, advanced stages, and then we'll eventually have a league winner.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a serious player and chess instructor. He joined in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club nearly every week. “This offers a nice option to engaging in intense chess; it gives a sense of community,” he said.

“It's fascinating to see how it becomes more of a social activity, because previously the only individuals who engaged in chess were those who didn't socialize; they just stayed home. It's typically only two people playing on a game board …

“What appeals to me about here is that one isn't actually playing against the computer, you are facing live opponents.”