Among the liveliest spots on a Tuesday evening in east London's famous street isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion brand temporary shop, it's a chess club – or a chess club-nightclub hybrid, to be exact.
This unique venue embodies the unlikely fusion between chess and the city's fervent nightlife culture. It was founded by a young entrepreneur, 27, who began his initial chess club in August 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the present location at Café 1001 on the iconic lane.
“I wanted to create chess clubs for people who look like me and those my age,” he said. “Typically, chess is only put in spaces that are full of older people, which is not diverse sufficiently.”
On the first night, there were only eight boards shared by sixteen people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly club event will attract about 280 attendees.
Upon arrival, the venue feels closer to a music night than a chess club. Mixed drinks are flowing and music is in the air, but the chessboards on each table aren't just ornamental or there as a novelty: they are all in use and encircled by a queue of spectators waiting for their chance to play.
Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has been attending Knight Club often for the past four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess prior to my first visit, and the initial occasion I tried it, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. It was a quick victory, but it made me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she noted.
“This gathering is about half networking and 50% participants genuinely wanting to engage in chess … It is a pleasant way to decompress, which avoids going to a typical nightspot to meet other people my generation.”
In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the cultural spirit of the times. The popularity of online chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing online pastimes in the world. Across media, the streaming series a hit show, as well as the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have crafted a distinct iconography surrounding the sport, which has drawn in a fresh generation of players.
However much of this recent attraction of the chess club isn't necessarily about the intricacies of the play; rather, it is the simplicity of social interaction that it enables, by pulling up a chair and playing with a person who may be a complete stranger.
“It is a great Trojan horse,” remarked one organizer, founder of Reference Point in London, a bookstore, reading room, cafe and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it began four years ago. His objective is to “remove chess from its elite status and make it feel similar to pool in a dive bar”.
“It's a really simple tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the pressure of the need of small talk away from interacting with people. One can do the awkward bit of introducing yourself and talking to a new acquaintance over a game rather than with no shared activity involved.”
In Birmingham, Chesscafé is a regular chess night held at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “Our observation was that people are seeking places where you can go out, socialise and enjoy a good time beyond going to a bar or nightclub,” said its founder and coordinator, a young leader, 21.
Alongside his friend Abdirahim Haji, 21, he bought game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in January, while in his last year of college. In less than a year, he reported Chesscafé has expanded to draw over one hundred young players to its events.
“A chess club has a particular connotation to it, about it being quiet. We really try to move in the opposite way; it's a social party with chess involved,” he emphasized.
For many, 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 chess night at the venue. She became curious in the game was piqued after an enjoyable night moving to music and engaging in chess at one of Knight Club's occasions.
“It is a unique concept, but it works,” she said. “It promotes face-to-face interactions rather than digital pastimes. It's a free third space to encounter new people. It's inviting, one doesn't have to necessarily be skilled at chess.”
She jokingly compared the trendiness of chess among young people to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an attempt to feign intellectualism while projecting the veneer of “coolness”. If the chess trend has fostered a genuine passion in the sport is not a notion she's quite sure about. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a fad,” she observed. “Once you're playing against people who are really dedicated about it, it quickly becomes less enjoyable.”
It may seem like a bit of fun and games for those aiming to employ a chessboard as a networking tool, but serious players do have their place, even if off the dancefloor.
Another organizer, 22, who helps running the club,explains that increasingly skilled attenders have formed a league table. “Participants who are in the league will play each other, we'll progress to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we will eventually have a champion.”
Ryames Chan, 23, is a competitive competitor and chess teacher. He has been the competition for about a twelve months and plays at the club almost every week. “This offers a nice alternative to playing serious chess; it gives a sense of community,” he said.
“It's interesting to observe how it becomes increasingly a communal activity, because previously the sole people who played chess were those who rarely go outside; they just stayed home. It is typically just a pair playing on a chessboard …
“What I like about this place is that one isn't really playing against the digital opponent, you are facing live opponents.”
A seasoned journalist with a passion for uncovering stories that matter in the Czech Republic and beyond.
