🔗 Share this article

Among the most energetic locations on a weekday evening in east London's famous street couldn't be a dining spot or a streetwear brand temporary shop, it's a chess gathering – or a chess club-nightclub hybrid, precisely speaking.

Knight Club represents the surprising crossover between the classic game and London's fervent nightlife culture. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, 27, who began his initial chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in Aldgate, a short distance from the present location at a popular cafe on the iconic lane.

“My goal was to create chess clubs for people who share my background and people my generation,” he said. “Usually, chess is only placed in environments that are dominated by older people, which isn't diverse enough.”

Initially, there were only eight boards between sixteen people. Now, a “successful evening” at the weekly Knight Club will draw approximately two hundred eighty people.

At first glance, the venue feels closer to a music night than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are being served and music is playing, but the game boards on every table aren't just ornamental or there as a gimmick: they are all in use and surrounded by a queue of spectators eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, 24, has frequented the club regularly for the last four months. “I possessed little understanding of chess before I came here, and the first time I tried it, I played a game against a expert player. That was a quick win, but it made me fascinated to study and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about half networking and half people actually wishing to play chess … It is a pleasant way to relax, which doesn't involve visiting a typical nightspot to see other people my age.”

An Activity Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Era

In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. Its appeal of digital chess expanded rapidly during the pandemic, making it one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes globally. Across media, the streaming series a hit show, along with Sally Rooney’s latest novel a literary work, have created a certain imagery surrounding the sport, which has drawn in a new wave of players.

But much of this recent appeal of the chess night is not always about the intricacies of the game; instead, it is the simplicity of social interaction that it enables, by pulling up a seat and engaging with someone who could be a complete unknown individual.

“It's a great Trojan horse,” said Jonah Freud, co-founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookshop, library, cafe and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it opened several years back. His aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and transform it into similar to billiards in a dive bar”.

“It is a really easy tool to get to know people. It kind of removes the pressure of the necessity of small talk from socializing with people. One can do the awkward part of making an introduction and talking to someone across a board rather than with no shared activity around it.”

Expanding the Community: Chess Nights Beyond London

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a recurring chess night held at York’s Cafe, near the downtown area. “We found that people are seeking spaces where one can socialize, socialise and have a fun evening outside of visiting a bar or club,” stated its creator and coordinator, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Together with his associate Abdirahim Haji, 21, Singh purchased chessboards, printed promotional materials and started the chess club in the start of the year, during his last year of university. Within months, Singh reported Chesscafé has expanded to attract over 100 young players to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a particular connotation associated with it, about it being reserved. We really try to move in the opposite way; it is a convivial party with chess as part of it,” he emphasized.

Discovering and Engaging: An Alternative Cohort of Players

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the activity. One participant, 27, is learning how to play chess with fellow attenders of the weekly event at the venue. Her interest in the game was piqued after an pleasurable night moving to music and playing chess at a previous Knight Club's events.

“It is a strange concept, but it works,” she commented. “It encourages face-to-face interactions instead of digital pastimes. It's a free third space to meet new people. It's inviting, you don't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

She jokingly likened the popularity of chess among young people to the facade of the “performative male”, an attempt to simulate braininess while projecting the veneer of “hipness”. If the chess craze has cultivated a authentic passion in the sport is not a notion she's entirely sure about. “It is a positive phenomenon, but it’s very much a trend,” she observed. “Once you're playing with people who are truly serious about it, it quickly becomes less fun.”

Competitive Play and Community

It may all be a bit of lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to employ a chessboard as a networking tool, but serious players do have their role, even if off the dancefloor.

Another organizer, 22, who assists in running the club,says that increasingly competitive attenders have established a competitive ranking. “Participants who are in the league will face each other, we will progress to early rounds, advanced stages, and then we will finally have a champion.”

A dedicated player, 23, is a serious competitor and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club almost weekly. “This is a welcome option to engaging in intense chess; it provides a feeling of community,” he said.

“It's fascinating to observe how it evolves into more of a social pastime, because in the past the sole people who played chess were those who rarely socialize; they just remained home. It is typically just a pair competing on a game board …

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