Friday, January 22, 2010

Revival of Chess in Iran

While the rest of his compatriots are busy trying to bring about freedom and democracy to Iran, Iranian grandmaster Morteza Mahjoob is busy with promoting chess.

Chess was outlawed in 1981 because it was thought to encourage betting, which is forbidden in Islam. But in 1988 the Islamic republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or Islamic religious decree, permitting chess as long as no gambling was involved.

The game, driven underground, made a vigorous comeback.

"One day I went to a park near my home to get a notebook from my friend and ... saw two grown-ups playing chess on a bench," Mahjoob told AFP.

Read more in Grandmaster's next move: A chess revival in Iran.

1 comment:

Ako said...

nice dude!

yes we have several problem in Iran, but IM's here try hard.