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One of the most vibrant locations on a Tuesday night in the East End's Brick Lane couldn't be a restaurant or a urban fashion label temporary shop, it's a chess gathering – or a chess and nightlife hybrid, to be exact.

Knight Club embodies the unlikely crossover between chess and London's dynamic evening entertainment culture. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who began his first chess club in August 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, not too far from the current location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

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

On the first night, there were only eight boards between 16 people. Now, a “good night” at the weekly club event will draw about two hundred eighty people.

At first glance, Knight Club feels more like a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are flowing and tunes is in the air, but the chessboards on each table are not just decorative or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and encircled by a line of spectators eagerly anticipating for their turn.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has been attending the club regularly for the last several months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before I came here, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. That was a swift win, but it left me intrigued to learn and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and 50% people genuinely wanting to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to unwind, which doesn't involve visiting a club to see others my generation.”

An Activity Reborn: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Age

In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. The popularity of digital chess proliferated during the global health crisis, making it one of the most rapidly expanding internet games globally. Across media, the streaming series The Queen’s Gambit, along with Sally Rooney’s latest novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct imagery surrounding the sport, which has attracted a fresh wave of enthusiasts.

However a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess club is not always about the technicalities of the play; rather, it is the ease of connecting with others that it facilitates, by pulling up a chair and playing with someone who may be a complete unknown individual.

“It is a brilliant Trojan horse,” said one organizer, founder of Reference Point in London, a bookstore, reading room, cafe and lounge, which has organized a popular chess club every Wednesday since it began four years ago. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and make it feel like pool in a casual pub”.

“It's a very easy vehicle to meet people. It kind of removes the pressure of the need of small talk away from socializing with people. You can handle the awkward part of making an introduction and talking to someone over a game instead of with no kind of context involved.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Beyond London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a recurring chess night taking place at York’s Cafe, near the downtown area. “We found that individuals are seeking spaces where one can go out, socialise and enjoy a good time beyond going to a pub or club,” stated its creator and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Alongside his associate a partner, 21, he bought game sets, created flyers and started the chess club in the start of the year, while in his last year of college. In less than a year, Singh said Chesscafé has expanded to draw more than one hundred young participants to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a specific connotation associated with it, about it being reserved. We really try to go the opposite way; it is a social party with chess involved,” he emphasized.

Learning and Engaging: An Alternative Generation of Chess Enthusiasts

For many, chess clubs are an introduction to the game. One participant, in her late twenties, is picking up how to play chess with fellow visitors of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the pastime was sparked after an pleasurable night dancing and playing chess at a previous Knight Club's events.

“It's a unique concept, but it works,” she said. “It encourages face-to-face exchanges instead of screen-based pastimes. It is a free third space to encounter strangers. It's welcoming, you don't have to necessarily be good at chess.”

Kezia humorously compared the trendiness of chess among young people to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while projecting the veneer of “hipness”. If the chess trend has cultivated a genuine interest in the game is not a notion she is entirely sure about. “It is a positive phenomenon, but it’s very much a trend,” she observed. “When you compete with people who are truly serious about it, it quickly turns less fun.”

Competitive Gaming and Community

It may all be a some lighthearted activity for those aiming to employ a game set as a social vehicle, but serious participants do have their place, albeit away from the main party area.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, 22, who helps organise the club,explains that more skilled players have established a competitive ranking. “People who are part of the competition will face each other, we'll progress to quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then we will eventually have a champion.”

A dedicated player, 23, is a serious player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club nearly weekly. “This offers a nice alternative to playing intense chess; it provides a sense of belonging,” he said.

“It is interesting to observe how it evolves into more of a social activity, because previously the sole people who engaged in chess were those who rarely go outside; they simply remained home. It is usually just a pair competing on a game board …

“The thing I like about this place is that one isn't really playing against the computer, you are facing real people.”