Re: OT Weird Chess News.

On Mon, 19 May 2025 16:07:44 -0400, William Hyde
<wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

Paul S Person wrote:

On Mon, 19 May 2025 17:50:24 +1200, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
 

Chess banned in Afghanistan due to gambling and religious considerations.
https://www.khaama.com/chess-banned-in-afghanistan-due-to-religious-restrictions/

 
That's very strange, as chess itself may well have come to Europe via
Islam (from India, IIRC). You would think it was firmly traditional.

>
You would think so, but there's a long history of religious
"authorities" calling for the banning of chess, both in Christianity and
Islam.
>
Mainly because chess distracts people from the Proper Duty of Man: Beat
up unbelievers, pay the church, pray, have children and raise them in
the faith, beat up unbelievers, and so on.
>
No room for games in that.
>
Very early versions of chess are said to have involved dice (I'm not
sure if this is generally accepted but chess with dice does exist) and
if so early bans, circa 600 or so, may have been part of a larger ban on
gambling.

Interesting. Well, the dice bit anyway.

It occurred to me last night that, since the most powerful piece is
the Queen, chess could be banned as woke or as DEI.

Particularly if the person banning it thought that it was a Drag
Queen. That would be fully compatible with MTG's views on Ukraine, for
example.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"