Cocktails & Chess Victories: These Young Britons Giving The Game a New Lease of Life

Among the liveliest locations on a Tuesday night in east London's Brick Lane couldn't be a dining spot or a urban fashion brand temporary shop, it is a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub hybrid, to be exact.

This unique venue represents the unlikely crossover between the classic game and London's dynamic evening entertainment culture. It was started by a young entrepreneur, 27, who launched his initial chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in Aldgate, not too far from the current location at a popular cafe on Brick Lane.

“I wanted to make chess clubs for individuals who share my background and those my age,” he said. “Usually, chess is only put in spaces that are dominated by senior individuals, which is not diverse enough.”

Initially, there were just 8 boards shared by sixteen people. Today, a “good night” at the weekly club event will draw about 280 people.

At first glance, the venue seems closer to a DJ event than a chess club. Cocktails are flowing and music is in the air, but the game boards on every table aren't just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all in use and encircled by a line of spectators waiting for their turn.

One regular, in her mid-twenties, has frequented the club regularly for the past four months. “I possessed no knowledge of chess before I came here, and the first time I ever played, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. It was a swift win, but it left me fascinated to study and continue enjoying chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about 50% networking and 50% participants actually wishing to engage in chess … It's a nice way to relax, which avoids visiting a typical nightspot to see others my age.”

An Activity Revitalized: Chess in the Contemporary Age

In recent years, chess has been firmly established in the cultural zeitgeist. The popularity of online chess expanded rapidly throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes in the world. Across media, the streaming series The Queen’s Gambit, as well as the author's latest novel a literary work, have created a certain iconography surrounding the sport, which has attracted a fresh generation of players.

However much of this newfound attraction of the chess club isn't necessarily about the technicalities of the game; instead, it is the ease of connecting with others that it facilitates, by taking a seat and playing with a person who could be a complete stranger.

“It's a great clever disguise,” said one organizer, founder of a local venue in the city, a bookshop, reading room, cafe and lounge, which has hosted a popular chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “take chess from its elite status and make it feel like pool in a dive bar”.

“It's a very simple tool to get to know people. It somewhat removes the weight of the necessity of conversation from socializing with people. You can handle the uncomfortable bit of introducing yourself and talking to someone across a board instead of with no shared activity around it.”

Expanding the Community: Social Gatherings Beyond London

In Birmingham, a similar initiative is a regular chess night taking place at York’s Cafe, near the city centre. “Our observation was that people are seeking spaces where one can go out, socialise and have a fun evening beyond visiting a bar or club,” stated its founder and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Alongside his associate a partner, also young, Singh purchased game sets, created promotional materials and began the chess club in the start of the year, during his final year of college. Within months, he said their event has expanded to draw more than one hundred young players to its gatherings.

“A chess club has a specific reputation associated with it, about it seeming quiet. Our approach is to go the contrary way; it's a convivial party with chess involved,” he said.

Learning and Engaging: A New Generation of Players

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an introduction to the activity. Zoë Kezia, 27, is picking up how to play chess with other attenders of chess night at the venue. She became curious in the game was sparked after an enjoyable night moving to music and playing chess at one of Knight Club's occasions.

“It is a unique concept, but it functions well,” she commented. “It promotes face-to-face interactions rather than digital pastimes. It is a no-cost neutral ground to meet strangers. It's welcoming, you don't need to necessarily be good at chess.”

Kezia jokingly compared the trendiness of chess with young people to the facade of the “performative male”, an effort to feign intellectualism while projecting the veneer of “coolness”. If the chess craze has fostered a authentic passion in the game is not a notion she's entirely convinced by. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s largely a trend,” she observed. “When you compete with people who are truly dedicated about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Play and Community

It might seem like a bit of lighthearted activity for those aiming to use a chessboard as a social vehicle, but serious participants certainly have their place, even if off the dancefloor.

Lucia Ene-Lesikar, 22, who assists in running Knight Club,says that increasingly skilled players have formed a league table. “People who are in the league will play one another, we will progress to quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then we will eventually have a champion.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He has been in the league for about a year and plays at the club nearly weekly. “This is a welcome option to playing serious chess; it gives a feeling of community,” he said.

“It's fascinating to observe how it evolves into increasingly a social activity, because previously the sole individuals who played chess were those who rarely go outside; they just stayed home. It's typically only two people playing on a chessboard …

“The thing I like about this place is that you're not really playing against the computer, you're engaging with real people.”