The chess world is changing. Meet the check mates making all the right moves

Growing up in Kenya, Maleik Njoroge played chess casually in primary school.

But it wasn’t until he stumbled upon a chess set in a Melbourne op shop that his love for the game swung into full force. The set he found reminded him of those from his childhood, and he carted it around for a year before eventually teaching his best friend to play. (As Njoroge puts it: “I had the first problem chess players face: I had no one to play with.”)

To Njoroge’s surprise, it deepened their friendship.

As he began to play chess with more friends, he noticed the same effect: chess was a conduit for richer connections.

Maleik Njoroge founded the Migrant Chess Club last year.Credit: Joe Armao

So Njoroge started Migrant Chess Club – a community in which to share his love of the game.

From New York to London, chess clubs globally are on the rise, attracting avid social players and inhabiting spaces not traditionally associated with chess, such as art galleries and bars.

“[It’s] the intentionality of spending an hour or two, no distractions, no phones, just in each other’s company and seeing each other’s wins and losses in all this chaos,” he says.

“In the background of that is this silence and almost meditative space ... you have richer conversations, I’d say, as opposed to going to a bar and just drinking. I found this was an avenue that I hadn’t had to connect with him before.”

In popular culture, from Anya Taylor Joy’s The Queen’s Gambit to Sally Rooney’s buzzy 2024 novel Intermezzo and the M3GAN Chess bot, the centuries-old game has been making a bit of a comeback.

Anya Taylor-Joy in Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, which propelled an interest in chess for a new group of fans.Credit: Netflix

Meanwhile, news and game site chess.com saw its visitors surge from 5.4 million to more than 11 million between November 2022 and April 2023, with the biggest audience jump among players aged 13 to 17.

All this is bringing a new generation of chess-lovers to the game, as it sheds its austere image and attracts players as interested in the game as they are in offline connection and chess’ artistic and cultural history.

A designer, Njoroge also makes chess sets, including a handmade chess dhurrie set (pictured above), a tribute to the game’s Indian roots.

He’s held events at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum, in retail stores, parks and cafes.

“I think a lot of people think of chess in one dimension, which is the game and the competition around the game, but because chess has existed for such a long time, there’s such a rich history of poetry, of design, of intellectual battles and interesting characters, and even just the formation of the game. So I’m really interested in those ideas,” he says.

Honsa Eqbal, founder of Melbourne’s mschess club, a monthly chess club exclusively for women, LGBTQIA+ and non-binary people. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Melbourne architect Hosna Eqbal started mschess, a monthly chess club exclusively for women, LGBTQIA+ and non-binary people last year.

Her father taught her to play chess during the pandemic, and she fell in love with the game.

Eqbal says the club’s rules aren’t meant to be exclusionary – quite the opposite. Her goal is to create a safe space for those who haven’t traditionally felt welcome – or comfortable – in mainstream chess communities.

Just 11 per cent of International Chess Federation Members are women, while the sport has been riddled with allegations of transphobia and sexism.

While these figures represent chess at an elite level, the male-dominated culture is also evident in more amateur or casual spaces – something Eqbal is consciously working against.

“I was more attracted to this analog way of socialising, and how, for women or people in minorities, it’s actually quite hindered because of the dominant population of chess,” she says.

People of all ages and abilities attend mschess, which Eqbal hosts for free in bars and restaurants across Melbourne.

A young girl who comes with her mum has become one of her regulars.

“She probably didn’t want to play at school because no other girls played there, but now she can come here and practise and then also play with other girls, and I think that’s what’s really nice about it,” she says.

In March, mschess crossed state lines for a special pop-up chess night at Sydney’s Ace Hotel, where she hopes to return in future.

A recent Bad Bishop Club event at COMA Gallery in Marrickville, Sydney.Credit:

Founder of Sydney’s Bad Bishop Chess Club, filmmaker Phoebe Joel, had her interest in chess reignited during the pandemic when she began playing with her young niece.

Most of Bad Bishop’s members are creatives – from a novelist to art dealers, artists, photographers and an academic – and ages range from 13 to 50.

Unlike mschess and Migrant Chess Club, Bad Bishop is semi-private – you have to know someone to get in.

“We are trying to cultivate this group of really interesting, cultural individuals,” Joel says.

‘We’re not particularly great players ... it’s more about connection, expression and imagination.’

Phoebe Joel, founder of Bad Bishop Chess Club

Their bi-monthly events are held mostly in restaurants (with occasional special events, including one at COMA gallery in Marrickville) and focus on fun rather than competition.

“We’re not particularly great players, and we’re not really competitive with each other, although everyone always likes to win,” Joel says. “So it’s more about connection, expression and imagination over the board per se.”

This relaxed approach to a game with a reputation for being rather serious is reflected in the club’s tongue-in-cheek rules.

The most recent night, revolving around the 1942 classic Casablanca, was fittingly held at Rick’s Café Américain in Woollahra, with guests instructed to dress in black tie.

Rules included: “Quoting Casablanca is a power move” and “Illegal moves will be met with a long, dramatic pause. And maybe a piano solo.”

Phoebe Joel, founder of Bad Bishop Chess Club, with Nick Novi (left) and Steve Toltz.Credit: Wendell Teodoro

On the morning this masthead speaks to Joel, Pope Francis has just died.

“I’ve actually just announced that until the Conclave selects a new pope, we’re pausing club activities,” she says.

“And then we’ll resume when a new Bishop of Rome is decided upon. We can’t play chess without a bishop, exactly.”

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