Taliban government reimposes chess ban in Afghanistan

Chess mirrors the fanaticism of the Taliban government. Banned during the Taliban’s first rule (1996–2001) and tolerated — although women were not allowed to play — after they returned to power in 2021, it is now banned again on the grounds that it is a source of gambling, which is prohibited under Afghan law and described in the Quran as “an evil act.”

However, that argument was already dismissed in 1988 in Iran, which has since produced brilliant players. If the concern is online betting, the Kabul government would also have to ban football, tennis, and other sports that generate far more betting revenue than chess.

The news was confirmed to EL PAÍS on May 12 by an Afghan chess player who requested anonymity: he has been in hiding in his country for months, frequently changing locations out of fear of punishment (he even fears for his life) because he attempted to travel abroad without authorization to compete in a tournament. The Afghan team that participated in last September’s Chess Olympiad in Budapest consisted mostly of exiled players, along with some living in Afghanistan who had been denied permission to attend the event.

Since chess was still tolerated in Afghanistan at that time (although only for men), the welcome given to the team was not as enthusiastic as in the 1996 Olympiad in Yerevan, Armenia. Back then, the ban was absolute. The Afghan team traveled through three countries over 10 days by bus and plane, arriving a week late — and was met with thunderous applause from more than a thousand participants from 111 countries, who stood and formed a corridor to greet them.

Azizullah Gulzada owns a café in Kabul, where several informal chess competitions have been held recently. “But with no gambling involved,” he said in a conversation with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) on May 11. He added: “Young people don’t have much to do here. So some come, order tea, and challenge their friends to a game. I know this also happens in many Muslim countries, some of which even have international-level players. I respect the ban, but it’s going to be very damaging to my business and to many Afghans who love chess.”

Statements by Taliban government spokesperson Atal Mashwani to AFP echo arguments made by Ayatollah Khomeini when he took power in Iran in 1979: “Chess in sharia [Islamic law derived from the Quran] is considered a form of gambling. There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess.”

It is true that the version of chess played in the early Middle Ages — the Quran is believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century — often involved dice and money bets, which are condemned in the Muslim holy book. The Quran instead recommends that warriors engage in three leisure activities when not on the battlefield: archery, horseback riding, and enjoying the company of their wives.

However, various sources highlight that by the time the Arabs imported chess from India and Persia (modern-day Iran) and brought it to the West via Al-Andalus (much of the Iberian Peninsula), the use of dice and gambling had significantly declined.

In his Book of Chess, Dice, and Tables (1283), preserved in the El Escorial monastery, King Alfonso X mentions some combined games of chess and dice as rare practices.

Since the founding of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1924, money betting has disappeared from official tournaments and has only been seen in café blitz games — until the rise of the internet, where other sports attract far more gambling money than chess. Therefore, it’s highly unlikely that the Taliban government is actually concerned with 21st-century online betting in its justification for the ban.

Just like Afghan players today, several top-level Iranian players fled their country in 1979; the most well-known are Mehrshad Sharif (who immigrated to France) and Kamran Shirazi (who went to the U.S., and later to France). But Ayatollah Khomeini eventually reversed his stance after being persuaded by some Iranian intellectuals that his arguments were absurd.

Since then (1988), the Iranian Chess Federation has become one of the most effective in the world at producing talent. However, it still faces two very serious issues that continue to drive many of its best players to flee the country: the obligation to forfeit matches against Israeli opponents, and, for women, the requirement to wear a veil during tournaments. The first issue led one of the greatest prodigies of this century, Alireza Firouzja, to become a French citizen; the second prompted Sara Khadem, a multiple medal winner and currently ranked 24th in the world, to become Spanish.

But everything indicates that the Taliban government is unaware of or does not appreciate these precedents, despite the fact that chess became a subject in all Afghan schools in 1987 under the government of President Mohammad Najibullah (supported by the Soviet Union), arguing that “no other sport develops so many qualities.”

However, there is one notable figure trying to persuade the Taliban to change their position: Russian Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who served as president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) from 1995 to 2018. It has been confirmed that during his tenure, Ilyumzhinov acted as a special envoy for Vladimir Putin in delicate missions to countries like Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Libya, among others—and there are indications he may still be fulfilling such roles.

When contacted by EL PAÍS, he immediately showed a letter sent this Monday to Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, asking him to reconsider the ban, using historical arguments similar to those mentioned in this article. “I hope to travel to Kabul this week to explain this to them in person,” he said by phone.

Putin, who has repeatedly expressed a keen interest in chess, removed the Taliban from his list of terrorist and extremist organizations a month ago — a list that still includes former world champion Garry Kasparov, who has lived in exile in New York since 2013.

Even so, Ilyumzhinov’s mission appears extremely difficult, especially given that the Kabul government spokesperson has echoed Khomeini’s original justification for the ban: “Chess is a devilish game that disturbs the minds of those who play it.”

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