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Among the most energetic spots on a Tuesday night in the East End's Brick Lane couldn't be a dining spot or a streetwear label pop-up, it's a chess club – or a chess club-nightclub hybrid, to be exact.

Knight Club represents the surprising crossover between the classic game and the city's dynamic evening entertainment scene. It was founded by Yusuf Ntahilaja, 27, who launched his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the current location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

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

Initially, there were just 8 boards between 16 people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly Knight Club will attract about two hundred eighty people.

Upon arrival, Knight Club feels closer to a DJ event than a chess club. Cocktails are being served and tunes is playing, but the chessboards on each table aren't just decorative or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and encircled by a line of spectators waiting for their chance to play.

One regular, 24, has been attending Knight Club often for the past several months. “I possessed little understanding of chess prior to I came here, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game against a expert player. It was a swift victory, but it made me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and 50% participants actually wishing to play chess … It is a pleasant way to decompress, which doesn't involve going to a club to see others my age.”

A Game Revitalized: Chess in the Modern Era

In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. The popularity of digital chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing internet pastimes globally. In popular culture, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, along with Sally Rooney’s latest novel a literary work, have created a distinct iconography surrounding the sport, which has drawn in a fresh generation of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this recent appeal of the chess club is not necessarily about the intricacies of the play; instead, it is the ease of connecting with others that it enables, by pulling up a chair and playing with a person who may be a complete unknown individual.

“It's a brilliant Trojan horse,” remarked Jonah Freud, founder of Reference Point in London, a bookstore, reading room, coffee house and lounge, which has organized a popular chess club every Wednesday since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and transform it into like billiards in a casual pub”.

“It's a really simple vehicle to meet people. It somewhat takes the pressure of the necessity of conversation from socializing with people. One can handle the uncomfortable bit of introducing yourself and chatting to a new acquaintance over a board rather than with no context around it.”

Growing the Community: Social Gatherings Beyond the Capital

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a regular chess night taking place at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “We found that people are looking for places where you can go out, socialise and have a fun evening outside of visiting a pub or nightclub,” stated its creator and coordinator, a young leader, 21.

Alongside his associate Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought game sets, created promotional materials and began the chess club in January, during his last year of university. In less than a year, he reported Chesscafé has expanded to draw more than 100 young players to its events.

“Such a venue has a specific reputation to it, about it seeming reserved. Our approach is to go the contrary direction; it is a social party with chess as part of it,” he said.

Discovering and Playing: A New Cohort of Chess Enthusiasts

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an introduction to the game. Zoë Kezia, 27, is learning how to participate in chess with other attenders of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the game was piqued after an pleasurable evening moving to music and engaging in chess at a previous Knight Club's occasions.

“It's a unique concept, but it functions well,” she commented. “It promotes face-to-face interactions instead of screen-based pastimes. It's a no-cost third space to encounter new people. It is welcoming, one doesn't have to necessarily be good at chess.”

She jokingly likened the trendiness of chess among young people to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while projecting the appearance of “coolness”. Whether the chess craze has fostered a genuine interest in the sport is not something she's entirely sure about. “It is a positive phenomenon, but it’s largely a fad,” she observed. “Once you're playing against opponents who are truly dedicated about it, it rapidly becomes less fun.”

Competitive Play and Togetherness

It may seem like a some lighthearted activity for those looking to use a chessboard as a social vehicle, but serious participants do have their role, albeit away from the dancefloor.

Another organizer, 22, who assists in running the club,says that increasingly skilled attenders have formed a league table. “People who are part of the competition will face one another, we'll progress to quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then we'll finally have a champion.”

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

“It's interesting to observe how it evolves into increasingly a social activity, because previously the only people who engaged in chess were people who didn't go outside; they just remained home. It is usually just a pair competing on a chessboard …

“What I like about here is that one isn't actually facing the digital opponent, you're facing real people.”