🔗 Share this article

One of the most energetic venues on a weekday evening in the East End's famous street isn't a dining spot or a urban fashion label temporary shop, it is a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub hybrid, to be exact.

This unique venue represents the surprising blend between chess and the city's fervent evening entertainment culture. It was started by a young entrepreneur, in his late twenties, who launched his initial chess club in the summer of 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, a short distance from the current location at Café 1001 on the iconic lane.

“My goal was to make chess clubs for individuals who share my background and people my generation,” he said. “Usually, chess is only put in spaces that are full of older people, which is not diverse sufficiently.”

On the first night, there were just 8 boards between sixteen people. Today, a “successful evening” at the weekly club event will attract about two hundred eighty attendees.

Upon arrival, Knight Club seems more like a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Cocktails are flowing and music is in the air, but the chessboards on every table aren't just ornamental or there as a gimmick: they are all in use and encircled by a queue of onlookers waiting for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has frequented the club regularly for the last four months. “I had little understanding of chess prior to my first visit, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game with a expert player. It was a swift victory, but it made me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she said.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and half participants actually wishing to engage in chess … It is a nice way to decompress, which doesn't involve going to a club to meet others my generation.”

A Game Reborn: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Age

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the societal spirit of the times. The popularity of digital chess expanded rapidly throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the fastest-growing online pastimes in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, along with Sally Rooney’s recent novel a literary work, have crafted a certain imagery associated with the sport, which has drawn in a fresh wave of players.

However a great deal of this newfound attraction of the chess night isn't always about the technicalities of the play; rather, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by pulling up a seat and engaging with someone who could be a complete stranger.

“It's a brilliant clever disguise,” said one organizer, co-founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookshop, reading room, cafe and bar, which has organized a popular chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s objective is to “take chess off a pedestal and transform it into similar to pool in a casual pub”.

“It's a very easy tool to meet people. It somewhat removes the weight of the necessity of conversation from interacting with people. You can do the awkward part of making an introduction and chatting to a new acquaintance over a board instead of with no kind of context involved.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Beyond the Capital

In Birmingham, Chesscafé is a recurring chess night held at a city cafe, near the city centre. “We found that individuals are seeking spaces where one can go out, socialise and have a good time beyond visiting a pub or nightclub,” stated its creator and coordinator, Karan Singh, 21.

Together with his friend Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought game sets, printed promotional materials and began the chess club in January, while in his last year of university. In less than a year, Singh said their event has grown to draw more than 100 youthful participants to its events.

“Such a venue has a particular reputation to it, about it being quiet. We really try to go the opposite way; it's a social party with chess involved,” he emphasized.

Learning and Engaging: A New Cohort of Chess Enthusiasts

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. One participant, 27, is picking up how to play chess with other attenders of chess night at the venue. Her interest in the game was piqued after an enjoyable evening dancing and engaging in chess at one of the club's events.

“It is a unique concept, but it functions well,” she said. “It promotes in-person exchanges rather than screen-based pastimes. It's a no-cost third space to encounter strangers. It is inviting, one doesn't have to necessarily be good at chess.”

She jokingly likened the popularity of chess among young people to the facade of the “performative male”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while signaling the veneer of “hipness”. Whether the chess craze has cultivated a genuine passion in the sport is not a notion she's quite convinced by. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a fad,” she said. “Once you compete with opponents who are really serious about it, it quickly turns less fun.”

Competitive Play and Community

It might seem like a bit of lighthearted activity for individuals aiming to employ a game set as a networking tool, but serious participants certainly have their role, even if away from the dancefloor.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, 22, who assists in organise the club,says that increasingly competitive players have established a competitive ranking. “People who are part of the competition will play each other, we will go to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we'll finally have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, 23, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He joined in the league for about a twelve months and participates at the club nearly weekly. “This offers a welcome option to engaging in intense chess; it provides a feeling of community,” he said.

“It is fascinating to observe how it becomes more of a communal pastime, because in the past the only people who engaged in chess were people who rarely socialize; they simply stayed home. It's usually only a pair playing on a game board …

“The thing I like about this place is that one isn't really playing against the computer, you're engaging with live opponents.”