Chess was aggressively banned by religious authorities across various different cultures over the centuries, with both radical Islamic leaders and orthodox Christian bishops…

A closer look

Chess was aggressively banned by religious authorities across various different cultures over the centuries, with both radical Islamic leaders and orthodox Christian bishops declaring the game a dangerously addictive gateway to gambling, idle behavior, and sheer moral corruption. In 1061, a prominent Italian cardinal famously wrote a furious letter denouncing the playing of chess as a filthy and shameful vice, genuinely believing that pushing carved wooden horses across a checkered board would lead souls directly into eternal damnation. It is utterly fascinating that a game currently stereotyped as the aggressively boring pastime of quiet intellectuals and elderly men in parks was once viewed by the medieval establishment as a terrifyingly degenerate activity on par with heavy narcotics