The Taliban has banned a lot of things ... but chess?
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The given reason is that it enables gambling. Presumably they'll also be banning the other sports and games that are mentioned in the article, including those deeply beloved of whoever it is setting these rules.
If not, we can safely assume that the ban is probably because it's something that might get the ordinary folk thinking for themselves, and that won't do. Can't be having the proles thinking for themselves, let alone practising an approximation of military strategy.
Alternatively, the top brass can't get their heads around chess and they're jealous that other people can, so therefore they ban it. (For this one, I cite myself. I'm so bad at chess that I can lose any game from a winning position by playing the moves I genuinely think are best, so I'm kind of jealous of anyone without this amazing anti-power. That doesn't necessarily mean I'd ban it, but if I was running a country, maybe that'd go to my head and I would.)
And let's not forget that it encourages thought, which terrifies religious conservatives.
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I could see chess being a problem for the Taliban a couple of different ways...
First, as in the article, gambling.
"Buh, buh, chess isn't gambling!" Tell that to any number of street chess hustlers in the US, and there are LOTS of them.
https://www.chess.com/blog/Rodgy/i-flew-to-new-york-to-play-hustlers
Second, graven images. The Taliban takes that seriously, to the point of blowing up Buddha statues.
In stricter Muslim countries, the chess pieces are more abstract-looking. That's not really the issue.
The real issue is that they hate anything that makes life enjoyable.
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Castling
Lol, that's a good point.
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religion is poison
