Chess, a chequered Islamic past & present: Banned by Taliban, backed by Saudi as it hosts its debut WC

Last week, the Taliban government in Afghanistan suspended chess citing ‘religious considerations’ and on the grounds that chess may be a form of gambling. This is not the first time chess has been suspended or banned in a country. It was banned during the first Taliban regime in 1996.

Periodic bans on chess have emanated from varying interpretations of Islamic scriptures. These have included concerns about gambling, potential interference with observance of prayer discipline, perceived symbol of decadence and notions of wastage of time. Iran, which ironically has produced world-class chess players, prohibited it in 1979, the ban lifted in 1988.

Grand mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia declared chess ‘haraam’ in 2016, even though it did not lead to any ban in the country. In fact, chess is making a grand debut at the Esports World Cup being held in Saudi Arabia this July-August.

When I first visited New York’s Metropolitan Museum in 2023, I was fascinated to see a nearly complete chess set–31 pieces with 1 missing pawn–from 12th c. Iran. Made of stonepaste, possibly hand-moulded and glazed in turquoise green and manganese purple, the beautiful pieces were extremely well-preserved.

Their shapes were interesting in themselves—the ‘shah’ (king) was denoted by a throne; the ‘vazir’ (minister, now queen) by a smaller throne; the ‘fil’ (elephant, now bishop) had a triangular top with two protruding ends denoting tusks; the ‘firas’ (horse, now knight) had a small triangle jutting out of a rounded top, and the ‘rukh’ (chariot, now rook) had a rectangular b a s e w i t h a wedged v-shape on top.

The pawns were in the shape of a lantern or dome with a small knob on top. Other chess pieces (mostly individual pieces made of ivory and rock crystal) in the Met collection were from even earlier vintages from Islamic countries. Intrigued, I dug into the history of chess and its origins and learnt that chess has had a long history and deep heritage in the Islamic world.

Chess originated in what is today India as a game of military strategy in the 6th c. ‘ Chaturanga’ referred to four divisions of military—infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots—which evolved into the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook. The game reached Persia by the 6th c. where it evolved into ‘ shatranj’. Persians modified some rules and standardised some pieces.

After the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th c., the game spread rapidly through the Arab world. Shatranj flourished during the Abbasid era between the 8th c-13th c. Caliphs, jurists, writers, and intellectuals patronised the game, denoting its association with strategy and intellect.

Harun al-Rasheed, the fifth caliph of Abbasid era, was known to be a big patron of shatranj, and actively promoted its adoption and play in his court and across his empire. Some of the earliest treatise on shatranj strategy were written in this era. Al-Adli al-Rumi authored ‘Kitab ash-Shatranj,’ and Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli wrote “Kitab al-Shitranj”. Shatranj travelled with the Arabs to al-Andalus (today’s southern Spain), and from there spread to Europe, where it became chess, and onwards to the Americas with European colonisers.

Chess history is closely intertwined with the history of migrations and conquests. A game played by the royals and masses alike, chess is (not) gambling—in fact, with its precision thinking and informed predictive play, it’s the very opposite. And it is certainly (not) a symbol of decadence.

The writer is an international master in chess.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)