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Among the most energetic spots on a Tuesday evening in the East End's famous street couldn't be a dining spot or a streetwear brand temporary shop, it is a chess club – or rather a chess club-nightclub fusion, precisely speaking.

This unique venue represents the surprising fusion between chess and the city'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 smaller bar in a nearby area, not too far from the current location at Café 1001 on Brick Lane.

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

On the first night, there were just eight boards between 16 people. Now, a “good night” at the weekly club event will draw about two hundred eighty people.

At first glance, the venue seems more like a DJ event than a traditional chess meeting. Cocktails are flowing and music is playing, but the game boards on each table aren't just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all in use and surrounded by a line of spectators eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

One regular, 24, has been attending the club often for the last several months. “I had little understanding of chess prior to I came here, and the initial occasion I tried it, I competed in a game against a expert player. That was a quick win, but it left me intrigued to study and keep playing chess,” she said.

“The event is about 50% networking and 50% people genuinely wanting to play chess … It's a nice way to decompress, which doesn't involve visiting a typical nightspot to see others my age.”

A Game Revitalized: Chess in the Modern Age

Lately, chess has been firmly established in the societal spirit of the times. The popularity of digital chess expanded rapidly during the pandemic, making it one of the most rapidly expanding internet pastimes in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, as well as the author's recent novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct imagery surrounding the sport, which has attracted a new wave of players.

However a great deal of this newfound appeal of the chess club is not always about the technicalities of the game; rather, it is the simplicity of social interaction that it facilitates, by taking a chair and playing with a person who may be a complete unknown individual.

“It's a brilliant Trojan horse,” remarked Jonah Freud, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookstore, library, cafe and lounge, which has organized a popular chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and transform it into like pool in a dive bar”.

“It's a very simple tool to meet people. It somewhat takes the weight of the need of small talk from socializing with people. One can do the awkward part of introducing yourself and talking to someone over a board rather than with no kind of shared activity around it.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a regular chess event held at a city cafe, just outside the downtown area. “Our observation was that individuals are seeking spaces where you can go out, interact and have a fun evening outside of going to a pub or nightclub,” said its founder and organiser, Karan Singh, 21.

Together with his friend Abdirahim Haji, 21, Singh bought game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in January, while in his last year of university. In less than a year, Singh reported Chesscafé has grown to draw over one hundred young players to its gatherings.

“A chess club has a particular reputation to it, about it seeming reserved. We really try to go the contrary way; it's a social party with chess as part of it,” he said.

Discovering and Engaging: An Alternative Cohort of Players

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the game. Zoë Kezia, in her late twenties, is learning how to participate in chess with fellow attenders of the weekly event at the venue. Her interest in the game was sparked after an pleasurable evening dancing and playing chess at a previous Knight Club's occasions.

“It is a strange idea, but it works,” she said. “It encourages face-to-face exchanges rather than digital pastimes. It's a free neutral ground to meet strangers. It is welcoming, you don't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

Kezia jokingly likened the popularity of chess with the youth to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to simulate intellectualism while projecting the appearance of “coolness”. Whether the chess trend has cultivated a authentic passion in the game isn't a notion she's quite convinced by. “It's a wholesome trend, but it’s very much a trend,” she observed. “Once you're playing against people who are truly serious about it, it rapidly becomes less fun.”

Competitive Gaming and Community

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

Another organizer, 22, who helps running the club,explains that increasingly competitive attenders have formed a league table. “People who are part of the competition will play each other, we will progress to quarter-finals, advanced stages, and then we will finally have a league winner.”

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 nice option to engaging in intense chess; it provides a sense of belonging,” he expressed.

“It is fascinating to observe how it evolves into increasingly a social pastime, because in the past the sole individuals who engaged in chess were people who didn't socialize; they just stayed home. It is usually only a pair playing on a chessboard …

“The thing appeals to me about here is that one isn't actually facing the computer, you're engaging with live opponents.”