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One of the most vibrant venues on a Tuesday evening in the East End's famous street isn't a restaurant or a streetwear brand temporary shop, it's a chess club – or a chess and nightlife fusion, to be exact.

Knight Club represents the unlikely crossover between chess and London's fervent nightlife culture. It was started by a young entrepreneur, 27, who launched his first chess club in August 2023 at a more intimate bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the present location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

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

On the first night, there were just eight boards shared by sixteen people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly club event will attract about two hundred eighty people.

At first glance, Knight Club feels more like a DJ event than a chess club. Cocktails are being served and tunes is playing, but the chessboards on every table are not just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all occupied and encircled by a queue of onlookers waiting for their turn.

One regular, in her mid-twenties, has been attending Knight Club regularly for the past several months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before my first visit, and the initial occasion I tried it, I competed in a game with a expert player. It was a quick win, but it made me fascinated to learn and continue enjoying chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about 50% social and 50% people actually wishing to play chess … It's a pleasant way to unwind, which avoids visiting a club to see others my generation.”

A Game Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Era

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the cultural spirit of the times. Its appeal of online chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, making it one of the fastest-growing internet pastimes in the world. Across media, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, along with the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have created a certain iconography associated with the game, which has drawn in a new generation of players.

However much of this newfound appeal of the chess night is not always about the technicalities of the game; instead, it is the ease of social interaction that it facilitates, by pulling up a seat and engaging with a person who could be a complete unknown individual.

“It's a brilliant clever disguise,” remarked one organizer, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookshop, reading room, coffee house and lounge, which has hosted a well-attended chess club weekly since it began several years back. His aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and make it feel like pool in a casual pub”.

“It is a very simple vehicle to get to know people. It kind of takes the pressure of the need of small talk from interacting with people. You can handle the awkward part of making an introduction and chatting to someone over a game instead of with no shared activity involved.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Outside the Capital

In Birmingham, a similar initiative is a recurring chess night taking place at a city cafe, just outside the downtown area. “We found that individuals are looking for spaces where you can socialize, interact and have a fun evening outside of going to a pub or club,” said its founder and organiser, a young leader, 21.

Alongside his associate a partner, also young, he purchased chessboards, created flyers and began the chess club in January, while in his final year of university. Within months, Singh reported their event has expanded to draw over one hundred young participants to its gatherings.

“A chess club has a specific connotation associated with it, about it being quiet. Our approach is to go the contrary way; it is a social get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Discovering and Engaging: A New Generation of Players

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. One participant, 27, is learning how to participate in chess with other attenders of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the pastime was piqued after an pleasurable night dancing and engaging in chess at a previous Knight Club's occasions.

“It is a strange idea, but it works,” she commented. “It promotes in-person exchanges rather than screen-based pastimes. It is a no-cost third space to encounter strangers. It is inviting, one doesn't need to necessarily be good at chess.”

She humorously likened the popularity of chess among the youth to the facade of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an attempt to feign braininess while signaling the appearance of “hipness”. If the chess craze has fostered a authentic interest in the sport is not a notion she's entirely convinced by. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she observed. “When you're playing against people who are really serious about it, it quickly becomes less fun.”

Serious Gaming and Community

It might all be a bit of lighthearted activity for those aiming to employ a game set as a networking tool, but serious participants do have their place, albeit away from the main party area.

Another organizer, in her early twenties, who assists in running Knight Club,says that increasingly skilled attenders have formed a league table. “People who are part of the competition will play each other, we will go to quarter-finals, advanced stages, and then we'll finally have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, in his twenties, is a serious competitor and chess teacher. He joined in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club nearly every week. “This is a nice option to engaging in intense chess; it gives a feeling of belonging,” he expressed.

“It is interesting to observe how it becomes increasingly a communal pastime, because previously the only individuals who played chess were those who rarely socialize; they just stayed home. It's usually only a pair competing on a chessboard …

“The thing I like about this place is that one isn't actually facing the digital opponent, you are facing real people.”