Chess considered a form of gambling
The status of chess in Muslim countries is not entirely clear-cut. In some countries, it is well accepted or even strongly promoted, while in others the guardians of religious orthodoxy view the game with suspicion. In the past, chess has at times even been banned in some Islamic countries as a form of gambling. Other Muslim imams have acknowledged that chess may not constitute gambling, but have nevertheless argued that it distracts believers from honouring Allah and should therefore be prohibited. At present, chess has once again been banned in Afghanistan by the ruling Taliban. Chess clubs have been closed, and anyone seen playing the game can face a fine.
Despite the ban, Afghan players competed under the country's traditional tricolour flag in both the open and, remarkably, the women’s section of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.
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The Afghan players apparently assumed that they would be able to take part in the Olympiad in the neighbouring country without facing consequences. Those players who still live in Afghanistan were also able to leave the country without interference. Most members of the Afghan delegation, however, live abroad.
Afghanistan's open team scored 10 match points and finished 128th out of 206 teams. The women's team finished 169th among 189 teams. The number of organised chess players in Afghanistan is small, however. In FIDE's country rankings, the federation is listed in 132nd place, with 15 rated players. In the women's rankings, Afghanistan stands 168th, with three players holding Elo ratings. All three ratings are below 1600, meaning that FIDE treated the Afghan women as unrated for the Olympiad.
Reports are now circulating that three of the Afghan participants - Khaibar Farazi, Habibullah Amini and Habibullah Guldoost, the captain of the women's team - were arrested on re-entering their home country for allegedly violating the ban on gambling. The three men were initially detained at the border and had their passports confiscated. They were then placed under house arrest in Kabul pending a decision by the relevant authorities on what punishment should be imposed for the alleged violation.
A fourth member of the team, Mirzaad Sayed Wahabuddin, was meanwhile able to enter the country without incident through a different border crossing. The remaining eight Olympiad participants, including all of Afghanistan's female players, no longer live in Afghanistan and therefore did not face the same problem.
The border guards reportedly acted on direct instructions from the Afghan Taliban government, which only learned after the players had departed that Afghan citizens had publicly played chess under the Afghan flag in Samarkand. The Taliban were said to be angered by this, and perhaps even more by the fact that Afghan women had taken part in chess tournaments abroad without head coverings.
Khaibar Farazi, the country’s leading player and also a well-known television entertainer, and Habibullah Guldoost, captain of the women’s team, brought the case to public attention through the prominent Spanish chess journalist Leontxo García. The Spanish daily El País, for which García has worked as a chess correspondent for decades, reported on the case.
Afghanistan's FIDE delegate, Adzhmal Mangal, told El País that the information surrounding the case had not yet been confirmed and that it was necessary to wait and see how the situation developed. Zaheer Asefi, the team captain who lives in the Netherlands, expressed greater concern.
It remains unclear what punishment the arrested players might face. Under some interpretations of Sharia law, prohibited gambling can be subject to severe penalties, potentially including amputation of the hands.
The International Chess Federation, FIDE, has pledged its support for the detained Afghan players. Spanish Members of the European Parliament are also seeking to raise the case before the European Parliament.
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