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Among the liveliest spots on a Tuesday evening in east London's famous street isn't a restaurant or a urban fashion brand pop-up, it's a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub fusion, to be exact.

This unique venue embodies the unlikely crossover between chess and the city's dynamic nightlife culture. It was founded by Yusuf Ntahilaja, 27, who began his initial chess club in August 2023 at a more intimate bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the present location at Café 1001 on the iconic lane.

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

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

Upon arrival, the venue seems closer to a music night than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are flowing and tunes is playing, but the chessboards on each table are not just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all occupied and encircled by a queue of onlookers eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has been attending Knight Club regularly for the last several months. “I possessed little understanding of chess prior to my first visit, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game against a expert player. That was a swift win, but it made me intrigued to study and continue enjoying chess,” she said.

“This gathering is about half social and half participants genuinely wanting to engage in chess … It is a nice way to relax, which doesn't involve going to a club to see other people my generation.”

An Activity Reborn: Chess in the Modern Age

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the societal zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing internet pastimes globally. Across media, the streaming series The Queen’s Gambit, along with the author's recent novel a literary work, have crafted a certain iconography associated with the game, which has attracted a fresh generation of players.

But a great deal of this newfound appeal of the chess club is not always about the technicalities of the game; instead, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it facilitates, by taking a chair and playing with a person who could be a complete stranger.

“It's a great clever disguise,” remarked Jonah Freud, co-founder of Reference Point in London, a bookstore, reading room, coffee house and bar, which has hosted a well-attended chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s objective is to “remove chess from its elite status and transform it into like billiards in a dive bar”.

“It's a very easy tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the pressure of the need of small talk away from socializing with people. One can handle the awkward part of introducing yourself and chatting to someone over a game instead of with no kind of context involved.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a recurring chess night held at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “We found that people are looking for places where one can socialize, interact and enjoy a good time beyond going to a bar or nightclub,” stated its creator and coordinator, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Alongside his associate Abdirahim Haji, 21, Singh purchased game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in the start of the year, while in his last year of college. In less than a year, he reported Chesscafé has expanded to draw over one hundred young participants to its events.

“Such a venue has a particular connotation associated with it, about it being quiet. We really try to move in the opposite direction; it's a convivial get-together with chess as part of it,” he said.

Discovering and Playing: An Alternative 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 Reference Point. She became curious in the pastime was sparked after an pleasurable evening dancing and playing chess at one of Knight Club's events.

“It is a strange concept, but it functions well,” she said. “It promotes face-to-face interactions instead of digital activities. 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 the youth to the facade of the “performative male”, an effort to feign braininess while signaling the appearance of “coolness”. Whether the chess trend has cultivated a genuine interest in the game is not a notion she is quite convinced by. “It's a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a trend,” she observed. “Once you compete against opponents who are really dedicated about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Play and Community

It may all be a some lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to employ a game set as a networking tool, but competitive participants do have their role, albeit away from the main party area.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, 22, who assists in running the club,says that more competitive attenders have established a competitive ranking. “Participants who are in the league will play one another, we'll progress to quarter-finals, advanced stages, and then we will eventually have a league winner.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a serious player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a year and plays at the club nearly weekly. “This is a nice alternative to engaging in intense chess; it provides a feeling of community,” he expressed.

“It's fascinating to observe how it becomes increasingly a social pastime, because in the past the only individuals who played chess were people who rarely socialize; they simply remained home. It's 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.”