Checkmate With a Side of Negronis at Acid Chess Club

Thursday nights just got significantly more strategic – and significantly more unhinged. Welcome to Acid Chess Club, the chaotic-good lovechild of a 90s LAN party, a rooftop bar, and an underground rave — but, you know, with pawns.

Happening every second Thursday at Runner Up in Collingwood Yards, Acid Chess Club is your new favourite excuse to drink, mingle, and silently crush strangers over a 64-square battleground.

This isn’t your grandpa’s chess night. It’s a vibe-heavy, tunes-blaring, cocktail-sipping celebration of community, competition and casual intellectual dominance.

What to Expect at Acid Chess Club

• Fortnightly alternating themes: Learn & Play (chill) and Tournaments (with hectic, chill & open streams)

• Multiple play streams for all energy levels – from hardcore chess nerd to “I forgot how the horse moves”

• DJs on deck, rooftop cocktails flowing, and that glorious Melbourne skyline watching you get checkmated by a barista

• Open to everyone, from rookies to Grandmaster-adjacent punters

• A welcoming, diverse crowd looking to make mates, not just moves

The vibe? Think club night, but you’re battling over bishops instead of dance floors. Co-founders James “Benji” Benjamin and Jack Irvine launched the club during lockdown and somehow built a global chess cult that’s now expanded to London.

Acid Chess Club is loud, funny, occasionally intense, and deeply human — because whether you win, lose, or accidentally flip the board mid-move, everyone’s there for connection, community, and maybe a negroni.

Scope the schedule and updates at @acid.chess.club.thursdays