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One of the most vibrant venues on a Tuesday night in the East End's famous street isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion label pop-up, it is a chess club – or rather a chess and nightlife combination, precisely speaking.

Knight Club embodies the unlikely fusion between the classic game and the city's fervent evening entertainment culture. It was founded by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who launched his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in Aldgate, not too far from the present location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

“I wanted to create chess clubs for people who share my background and those my age,” he said. “Typically, chess is only placed in spaces that are full of older people, which is not inclusive sufficiently.”

On the first night, there were just eight boards shared by 16 people. Today, a “successful evening” at the regular club event will attract about 280 people.

Upon arrival, the venue feels closer to a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Cocktails are flowing and music is in the air, but the chessboards on every table are not just ornamental or there as a gimmick: they are all in use and encircled by a queue of onlookers waiting for their turn.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has been attending the club often for the last four months. “I possessed little understanding of chess before my first visit, and the first time I ever played, I played a game against a grandmaster. That was a swift win, but it made me intrigued to study and continue enjoying chess,” she noted.

“The event is about 50% networking and 50% participants genuinely 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 Contemporary Age

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess expanded rapidly throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing internet games globally. In popular culture, the streaming series The Queen’s Gambit, along with Sally Rooney’s recent novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct imagery associated with the game, which has attracted a new generation of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess club is not always about the technicalities of the play; instead, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by taking a seat and playing with someone who could be a total unknown individual.

“It's a great clever disguise,” said Jonah Freud, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookshop, reading room, coffee house and bar, which has hosted a well-attended chess club weekly since it began four years ago. Freud’s objective is to “remove chess off a pedestal and transform it into similar to pool in a casual pub”.

“It's a really simple tool to get to know people. It somewhat removes the weight of the need of small talk from interacting with people. One can handle the uncomfortable part of introducing yourself and talking to someone across a board rather than with no kind of shared activity around it.”

Expanding the Community: Chess Nights Beyond the Capital

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a regular chess night taking place at a city cafe, just outside the city centre. “Our observation was that individuals are seeking places where you can socialize, socialise and have a good time outside of going to a pub or club,” stated its founder and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his friend Abdirahim Haji, 21, Singh bought chessboards, printed promotional materials and started the chess club in the start of the year, while in his last year of university. Within months, he reported their event has grown to attract over one hundred young players to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a particular connotation associated with it, about it being reserved. We really try to move in the contrary way; it's a social get-together with chess as part of it,” he emphasized.

Learning and Playing: A New Generation of Players

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

“It is a strange idea, but it functions well,” she said. “It promotes in-person interactions rather than screen-based pastimes. It is a no-cost third space to meet strangers. It is inviting, you don't have to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

She humorously likened the popularity of chess among the youth to the superficial image of the “performative male”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while signaling the veneer of “coolness”. Whether the chess craze has fostered a genuine interest in the game is not a notion she's quite convinced by. “It's a positive phenomenon, but it’s largely a fad,” she said. “When you compete with opponents who are really serious about it, it quickly becomes less fun.”

Serious Gaming and Togetherness

It may seem like a bit of fun and games for individuals looking to use a game set as a social vehicle, but serious players certainly have their role, albeit off the dancefloor.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, in her early twenties, who assists in running Knight Club,says that increasingly skilled attenders have established a competitive ranking. “People who are in the league will play each other, we'll go to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we will finally have a champion.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He joined the competition for about a twelve months and participates at the club nearly every week. “This offers a welcome option to engaging in intense chess; it provides a feeling of community,” he said.

“It is interesting to see how it becomes increasingly a social activity, because previously the only individuals who played chess were people who didn't socialize; they just remained home. It is typically just a pair playing on a chessboard …

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