Cocktails and Checkmates: The Young Britons Providing Chess a New Lease of Life

One of the most energetic locations on a weekday night in the East End's Brick Lane isn't a dining spot or a urban fashion brand pop-up, it's a chess gathering – or rather a chess and nightlife combination, precisely speaking.

This unique venue embodies the surprising blend between the classic game and the city's dynamic evening entertainment scene. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who launched his first chess club in the summer of 2023 at a more intimate bar in a nearby area, not too far from the present location at a popular cafe on the iconic lane.

“My goal was to make chess clubs for people who look like me and those my generation,” he explained. “Typically, chess is only put in environments that are full of senior individuals, which isn't diverse sufficiently.”

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

Upon arrival, the venue feels more like a DJ event than a chess club. Mixed drinks are flowing and music is in the air, but the chessboards on every table aren't just decorative or there as a novelty: they are all in use and encircled by a line of onlookers waiting for their turn.

One regular, 24, has frequented the club often for the past several months. “I possessed little understanding of chess prior to 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 made me intrigued to learn and keep playing chess,” she noted.

“This gathering is about half networking and 50% people genuinely wishing to play chess … It's a pleasant way to decompress, which avoids visiting a club to meet others my age.”

A Game Reborn: Chess in the Modern Age

In recent years, chess has been cemented in the societal zeitgeist. Its appeal of online chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, establishing it as one of the most rapidly expanding online games globally. In popular culture, the Netflix series a hit show, as well as Sally Rooney’s latest novel Intermezzo, have created a distinct iconography associated with the sport, which has drawn in a fresh generation of players.

However much of this recent appeal of the chess night isn't necessarily about the technicalities of the game; rather, it is the simplicity of connecting with others that it enables, by taking a seat and playing with a person who may be a total unknown individual.

“It's a great Trojan horse,” said one organizer, co-founder of a local venue in the city, a bookstore, library, cafe and bar, which has organized a well-attended chess club every Wednesday since it began four years ago. His objective is to “take chess from its elite status and make it feel like pool in a casual pub”.

“It is a really simple vehicle to meet people. It kind of removes the weight of the need of conversation away from interacting with people. One can do the awkward bit of introducing yourself and chatting to someone over a game rather than with no kind of context involved.”

Expanding the Network: Social Gatherings Beyond the Capital

Elsewhere in the UK, Chesscafé is a recurring chess night held at a city cafe, near the downtown area. “Our observation was that people are looking for places where one can socialize, interact and have a fun evening beyond visiting a bar or nightclub,” said its creator and organiser, Karan Singh, in his early twenties.

Alongside his friend Abdirahim Haji, 21, he purchased game sets, created promotional materials and started the chess club in January, during his final year of university. In less than a year, Singh said Chesscafé has grown to attract over 100 young players to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a particular connotation to it, about it being quiet. We really try to go the opposite way; it is a convivial get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Learning and Playing: An Alternative Cohort of Players

For many, chess clubs are an entry point to the activity. One participant, in her late twenties, is picking up how to participate in chess with fellow attenders of the weekly event at the venue. Her interest in the game was piqued after an enjoyable evening moving to music and playing chess at a previous the club's events.

“It's a strange idea, but it works,” she said. “It promotes in-person interactions rather than digital pastimes. It's a free neutral ground to meet strangers. It's welcoming, one doesn't have to necessarily be good at chess.”

Kezia humorously likened the trendiness of chess with the youth to the superficial image of the “performative male”, an attempt to simulate intellectualism while signaling the appearance of “coolness”. If the chess trend has fostered a authentic passion in the game isn't a notion she is quite sure about. “It's a positive trend, but it’s very much a trend,” she said. “When you compete with people who are really serious about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Competitive Play and Community

It might all be a some fun and games for individuals looking to use a game set as a networking tool, but serious players do have their role, even if away from the main party area.

Another organizer, 22, who assists in organise the club,explains that more competitive attenders have established a league table. “People who are in the league will play one another, we will progress to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we will eventually have a league winner.”

Ryames Chan, in his twenties, is a serious competitor and chess teacher. He joined the competition for about a year and plays at the club almost weekly. “This offers a nice alternative to playing serious chess; it gives a sense of belonging,” he expressed.

“It's interesting to see how it becomes more of a social activity, because previously the sole people who played chess were people who didn't go outside; they simply remained home. It's usually only a pair playing on a chessboard …

“The thing I like about this place is that you're not actually playing against the computer, you are facing live opponents.”