Drinks & Checkmates: The Young Britons Providing The Game a New Breath of Life

Among the liveliest spots on a weekday evening in the East End's Brick Lane isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion brand temporary shop, it is a chess club – or a chess club-nightclub fusion, precisely speaking.

This unique venue embodies the unlikely blend between chess and the city's dynamic evening entertainment scene. It was started by a young entrepreneur, in his late twenties, who launched 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.

“My goal was to make chess clubs for individuals who share my background and those my age,” he said. “Usually, chess is only put in environments that are full of senior individuals, which is not diverse enough.”

On the first night, there were only eight boards between 16 people. Now, a “good night” at the weekly Knight Club will draw about 280 people.

At first glance, Knight Club seems closer to a DJ event than a chess club. Cocktails are being served and tunes is playing, but the game boards on each table aren't just decorative or there as a gimmick: they are all occupied and encircled by a line of onlookers waiting for their turn.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has been attending the club often for the last four months. “I possessed little understanding of chess prior to I came here, and the first time I tried it, I played a game against a grandmaster. That was a quick win, but it left me intrigued to learn and continue enjoying chess,” she said.

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

An Activity Reborn: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Era

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the societal spirit of the times. The popularity of digital chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, making it one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes globally. Across media, the streaming series a hit show, along with Sally Rooney’s recent novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct imagery surrounding the sport, which has drawn in a new generation of players.

However a great deal of this recent appeal of the chess club is not always about the technicalities of the play; rather, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by taking a chair and engaging with a person who could be a complete unknown individual.

“It is a brilliant Trojan horse,” remarked one organizer, founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookshop, reading room, coffee house and lounge, which has organized a well-attended chess club weekly since it opened four years ago. Freud’s aim is to “take chess from its elite status and transform it into similar to pool in a dive bar”.

“It is a really easy tool to get to know people. It kind of takes the weight of the need of conversation from interacting with people. One can handle the awkward part of making an introduction and talking to a new acquaintance over a board instead of with no kind of context around it.”

Expanding the Network: Social Gatherings Outside the Capital

In Birmingham, Chesscafé is a regular chess event taking place at a city cafe, near the downtown area. “We found that people are seeking places where one can socialize, interact and have a fun evening outside of visiting a pub or club,” said its creator and organiser, a young leader, in his early twenties.

Alongside his associate a partner, 21, he bought chessboards, printed promotional materials and started the chess club in January, during his last year of university. In less than a year, he reported Chesscafé has grown to attract over one hundred young players to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a particular connotation to it, about it being reserved. We really try to go the contrary way; it's a social party with chess as part of it,” he said.

Discovering and Playing: An Alternative Generation of Players

For many, chess clubs are an introduction to the game. Zoë Kezia, 27, is learning how to participate in chess with fellow attenders of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the pastime was sparked after an pleasurable night dancing and engaging in chess at a previous Knight Club's events.

“It is a unique concept, but it works,” she said. “It promotes face-to-face exchanges rather than digital pastimes. It is a no-cost third space to encounter new people. It is welcoming, you don't need to necessarily be good at chess.”

She jokingly compared the trendiness of chess among the youth to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while signaling the appearance of “hipness”. Whether the chess craze has fostered a authentic passion in the sport is not a notion she is quite sure about. “It is a positive trend, but it’s very much a trend,” she observed. “Once you compete with opponents who are truly serious about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Gaming and Community

It might all be a some lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to use a game set as a networking tool, but serious participants do have their place, albeit off the main party area.

Another organizer, 22, who assists in running Knight Club,explains that increasingly skilled players have formed a competitive ranking. “People who are in the league will play one another, we will go to quarter-finals, advanced stages, and then we'll finally have a champion.”

Ryames Chan, in his twenties, is a competitive competitor and chess teacher. He joined in the league for about a year and participates at the club almost every week. “This is a nice alternative to engaging in intense chess; it provides a sense of community,” he expressed.

“It's fascinating to observe how it evolves into more of a social activity, because previously the sole people who played chess were people who didn't socialize; they just stayed home. It is typically only a pair playing on a chessboard …

“The thing appeals to me about here is that one isn't actually playing against the digital opponent, you are engaging with live opponents.”