Chess Bans

by Bill Wall

In 655 CE, Mohammed's son-in-

law, Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib,
disapproved (but not banned)
the precursor of chess, shatranj,
for his sect of Muslims since the
carved figures of the chess
pieces were considered "graven
images."

In 680 CE, the 50th rule of

canons of the Trullan Synod
(Third Council of Bill Wall
Constantinople) was interpreted
as forbidding chess with dice
(alea) (source: Murray, A
History of Chess, p. 167,
footnote 17).
A knowledge of combinations is
In 725 CE, Sulaiman ibn Yashar the foundation of positional
disapproved of chess. chess. —Reti
In 780 CE, the caliph al-Mahdi,
wrote a letter to religious leaders
in Mecca, asking them to give
up gambling with dice and
chess.

In 1005, chess was banned in

Egypt by al-Hakim bi-Amr
Allah (985-1021), and chess sets
and pieces were ordered burned.
Players were beaten for playing
chess.

In 1061, the Italian cardinal

bishop of Ostia, Petrus (Peter,
Pedro) Damiani (1007-1072),
wrote a letter to the pope-elect
Alexander II (pope from 1961 to
1073), and to Archdeacon
Hildebrand (who was Pope
Gregory VII from 1073 to
1085), complaining that priests
were playing chess (scacorum).
He was particularly outraged
that his traveling companion, the
Bishop of Florence, was seen
playing chess in public (a hotel).
Damaini labeled chess as a game
of chance, like dice, which was
banned. Damaini was ignorant
of chess and prejudiced against
it. He said that playing chess
made" a buffoon of a priest."
Damiani's denunciation of chess
led to a number of ecclesiastical
decrees which put chess among
the games forbidden to the
clergy and monastic orders.
Damiani became a saint and was
made a Doctor of the Roman
Catholic Church by Pope Leo
XII in 1828.

In 1093, the Eastern Orthodox

Church condemned chess. The
Church tried to stamp out chess
in Russia as a relic of
heathenism.

In 1110, John Zonaras (1074-

1130), a monk and Byzantine
theologian and canonist,
excommunicated chess players
and banned chess as a kind of
debauchery. He wrote a
commentary on the rules of
Apostolic Canon and laid down
excommunication as the penalty
for playing chess (Canon 50),
even among the laity. Zonaras
had been a former captain of the
Byzantine imperial guard.
In 1125, Bishop Guy of Paris
banned chess and
excommunicated a few priests
who were caught playing chess.
A chess enthusiast priest then
devised a secretive folding chess
board. Once folded, it looked
like two books lying together.

In 1128, St. Bernard of

Clairvaux (1090-1153), a French
abbot, banned the Knights
Templar from playing chess. He
wrote the military orders for the
Knights Templar and told them
to foreswear chess and dice.

In 1195, Rabbi Maimonides

(1155-1204) included chess
among the forbidden and banned
games.

In the late 12th century, Casimir

II (1138-1194), King of Poland,
banned chess.

In 1197, Adam, the abbot of

Persigny was warning folks not
to play chess and wanted the
game banned. (source: Murray,
A History of Chess, p. 411)

In 1198, chess was banned from

the clergy in Paris as ordered by
the bishop of Paris, Eudes (Odo)
de Sully (1168-1208). He
banned all chess sets and chess
boards from even being in the
houses of the clergy. (source:
Murray, A History of Chess, p.
410)

Around 1200, Alexander

Neckam (1157-1217),
theologian and abbot of
Cirencester Abbey in England,
condemned chess as being
frivolous and wanted the game
banned.

In November 1215, the Fourth

Council of the Lateran in Rome
forbade priests from playing
chess (canon 16).

In July 1240, the Synod of

Worcester Synod in England
declared that chess was
forbidden to the clergy and
monastic orders. (source:
Murray, A History of Chess,
p.410)

In December 1254, King Louis

IX (1214-1270) of France
banned chess under pain of a
fine after returning from a
Crusade. He called chess a
useless and boring game
(source: Murray, A History of
Chess). He had an aversion to all
games. Despite hating chess, it
is said that he received a fine
chess set as a gift from Aladdin.
King Louis IX was the only
French king to be made a saint
(Saint Louis).

On May 8, 1255, the Provincial

Council of Beziers, France,
stated that chess was forbidden
by the clergy. (source: Murray,
A History of Chess)

Around 1270, King Henry III

(1207-1272) instructed the
clergy to leave chess alone "on
pain of durance vile."

In 1274, a decree issued at

Abingdon, England, banned
chess from its monasteries.

In 1282, the Russian manuscript

Clementine Kormch included a
series of directions of priests,
which include no chess playing.

In 1291, the Archbishop of

Canterbury, John Peckham
(1230-1292), banned chess in
his congregation at the Priory of
Coxford, Norfolk. He threatened
to put the prior and canons on a
diet of bread and water for three
nights unless they desisted from
playing chess. (source: Murray,
A History of Chess) Priests were
banned from playing chess until
1299.

In 1310, the Council of Trier

(which dealt with witchcraft) in
Germany ruled that chess was
forbidden to the clergy in
Germany. (source: Murray, A
History of Chess, p. 310)

In 1322, the Jewish rabbi

Kalonymus ben Kalonymus
(1286-1328) condemned chess.

In 1329, chess was banned in

Germany after the statutes of the
Synod of Wurzburg. (source:
Murray, A History of Chess, p.
410)

In 1340, chess was banned at

Queen's College, Oxford.
In 1375, Charles V (1337-1380),
under the influence of the
church, banned chess in France.

In 1380, William of Wykeham

(1324-1404), the Bishop of
Winchester and the Chancellor
of England, banned chess to
scholars. (source: Murray, A
History of Chess, p. 441) He
founded New College Oxford,
New College School, and
Winchester College.

In 1390, John I of Aragon

(1350-1396) banned chess in
northeastern Spain. (source:
Murray, A History of Chess)

In 1404 the Synod of Langres

forbade the clergy to play chess
and cards.

In the 15th century, Charles VI

(1368-1422) banned chess in
France.

In 1464, under the reign of

Edward IV (1442-1483), a law
was enacted to ban chess in
England.

In 1549 the Protohierarch

Sylvester (chaplain to Ivan the
Terrible) wrote that those who
play chess shall go to hell and be
accursed on earth. This was
documented in his work
Domostroi (Household
Goverment), a book of
principles of family life. This
was the first printed book in
Moscow. (source: Murray, A
History of Chess, p. 381)
In 1551, Tsar Ivan IV (1530-
1584) (Ivan the Terrible) of
Russia banned chess, but played
chess himself. He died while
playing chess. During this
period, leading clerics of Russia
compiled the Stoglav Collection,
which banned chess. Stoglov, or
Book of One Hundred Chapters,
is a collection of decisions of the
Russian church council of 1551.

In 1585, the Provincial Council

of Mexico banned the clergy
from playing chess in public or
for money.

In the 1600s, the Puritans

banned chess from their sect,
according to History of England
by Macaulay.

In August 1624, John

Middleton's play, A Game at
Chess, was staged by the King's
Men at London's Globe Theatre.
The play was soon banned as it
made fun of the Spanish
Ambassador (caricaturized as
the black knight), the nobility,
and Catholics.

In 1649, Tsar Alexei (1629-

1676) banned chess in Russia.
The penalty for playing chess
was whipping and
imprisonment.

In 1848, the suppression of the

Hungarian Revolution banned
chess clubs in Hungary until
1864.
In the 1860s, Ellen White (1827-
1915) co-founder of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
wanted chess banned, saying
that Heaven condemned
amusements such as chess,
checkers, and cards.

In 1864, a Ladies' Chess Club

was formed in Germantown, a
suburb of Philadelphia. It was
the first chess club for ladies in
America. There were a dozen
members, who met weekly at
the residences of its members.
Men were barred from the chess
club until the hour when their
services as escorts were
required. (source: The Chess
Player's Magazine, vol 2, 1864,
p. 113)

In the 1890s, non-native

American chess players were
barred from taking part in the
Anglo-American cable matches.
The British only wanted
"native" American chess players
by birth to compete. That ruled
out such players as William
Steinitz (an American citizen by
then), Emil Kemeny, and
Samuel Lipshutz from playing
on the American team.

In the 1920s, public chess

playing on Sundays was banned
in Massachusetts. A law was
passed to make it illegal to play
checkers and chess in public on
Sunday. (source: New York
Times)

In 1922, a cripple was convicted

and fined for playing checkers
on Sunday in a public park in
Massachusetts.

In July 1933, all Jews were

banned from the Greater
German Chess Association.

In March 1940, the Germans

arrested all the chess players that
were meeting at the Warsaw
Chess Club (Kwiecinski Chess
Café), which was banned
earlier by the Germans. The
Jews were all taken to a
concentration camp
(Danilowicowskia) in Palmiry,
Poland (north of Warsaw) and
were later killed in a mass
execution. This included Polish
masters Dawid Przepiorka
(1880-1940), Achilles
Frydmann, Stanislaw Kohn, and
Moishe Lowtzky. Over 2,000
men and women were executed
there by the Nazis.

In the 1940s, the German Nazis

barred Jews from playing chess,
including in occupied countries.

During World War II, postal

chess in America was banned
during wartime. The U.S.
government feared the game
was being used to send secret
messages.

In March 1944, chess as banned

by trans-Atlantic mail. It was
explained this was done to
prevent enemy agents from
employing such mediums to get
code messages across the
Atlantic. (source: The Troy
Record, March 31, 1944)
Censors searched letters for
discussions of chess because
enemies would often hide codes
in chess symbols and moves.
(source: Freedom of Press and
National Security in Four Wars,
D. Smyth, 2007)

After World War II, Alexander

Alekhine was barred from chess
tournaments due to his anti-
Semitic articles that he had
written for the Nazis.

In the 1940s, Mikhail Botvinnik

tried to have Paul Keres barred
from playing chess. Botvinnik
wrote to the Soviet Chess
Federation, "The next World
Chess Champion should be a
Soviet, like me, and not an
Estonia, like Paul Keres."
Botvinnik prevented Keres from
playing at Groningen 1946 and
prevented him from being a
world championship challenger.
It wasn't until 1955 that Keres
was permitted to play in a
tournament outside of Soviet
control.

In 1950, black players were

barred from the Southern Chess
Association tournament, held in
North Carolina.

In the early 1950s, blacks were

banned from chess clubs in
Chicago. Blacks were also not
allowed to play in chess
tournaments run by the Southern
Chess Association.
In 1954, blacks were banned
from playing in the U.S. Open,
held in New Orleans.

In 1955, Norman Tweed

Whitaker (1890-1975) was
banned from chess tournaments
sponsored by the US Chess
Federation, due to his shady past
and criminal record. Whitaker
sued the USCF and the ban was
revoked.

In 1955, blacks were barred

from playing in the Georgia
Open chess tournament.

In the late 1950s, the Soviets

banned chess in Antarctica after
a Soviet scientist at a Soviet
research station killed his
colleague with an axe after he
lost a game of chess.

At the 1959 U.S. Open chess

tournament in Omaha,
Nebraska, blacks were barred
from rent a room at the hotel (or
other nearby hotels ) in which
the chess tournament was held.

In 1965, Bobby Fischer was

banned from traveling to Cuba
to play chess by the U.S. State
Department due to tension in
Cuba-United States relations.
Instead, he played by telex from
the Marshall Chess Club in New
York. He tied for 2nd.

In 1966, chess was banned in

China as part of the Cultural
Revolution. By 1974, there was
an easing of the ban. China
began to participate in
international events in 1976.

In August 1969, Grandmaster

Ludek Pachman (1924-2003)
was arrested and imprisoned for
his political activities in
Czechoslovakia. He was
charged of defaming a
representative of the Republic
and supporting Dubcek. He was
sent to Ruzyn Prison on the
outskirts of Prague. He was later
charged with subversion and up
to 10 years imprisonment. He
was released in December,
1970, but was banned from
chess in Czechoslovakia. He
later moved to Germany to play
chess.

In 1970, the British Chess

Federation (BCF) barred Welsh
chess team from competing in
the Counties and District
Correspondence Chess
Championships. This led to the
creation of the Welsh
Correspondence Chess
Association. The BCF refused to
recognize Wales as an
independent postal chess body,
stating that the British Postal
Chess Federation was the sole
representative of postal chess in
Britain.

In the 1970 Chess Olympiad in

Siegen, Germany, a number of
chess players and teams
protested against South Africa's
inclusion, some withdrawing
themselves. The Albanian team
forfeited its match against the
South African team. South
Africa was banned from World
Chess Competition while
participating in the 1974 Chess
Olympiad, finally returning to
international competition in the
1992 Chess Olympiad.

In 1971, 16-year-old Soni

Romans was banned from
participating in the Channelview
High School, Houston chess
club. The reason was that the
16-year old had been married,
divorced, and had a child (which
she gave up for adoption). The
school felt she shouldn't be
allowed to participate in any
club activity because of her
background and that she "might
discuss sex with other
students."

In 1971, after Soviet

grandmaster Mark Taimanov
lost to Bobby Fischer 6-0 in
Vancouver, BC, he was barred
from traveling abroad, he was
censured, and he was cut off
from his government salary as a
chess grandmaster.

In 1974, FIDE temporarily

banned South African and
Rhodesia from FIDE events due
to their apartheid practices.

In 1974, Soviet grandmaster

Viktor Korchnoi gave an
interview to a Yugoslav
newspaper in which he criticized
certain aspects of the Soviet
chess system. As a result, he
was banned from the USSR
national chess team for a year
and banned from playing in
chess tournaments abroad. He
was also banned from
publishing any chess analysis.
These measures were lifted in
1976.

In 1977, South Africa was

banned from FIDE events
because of its apartheid
practices. The ban remained in
effect until 1992.

In 1979, after the Islamic

revolution, chess was banned in
Iran on the count of encouraging
gambling, warmongering, and
inattention to the five ritual
prayers every day. This ban was
in effect until 1988, when the
Ayatollah Khomeini
rehabilitated the game.

In the 1980s, USSR grandmaster

Boris Gulko and his wife were
barred from top level chess
competitions because of their
anti-communist views. The
Gulko family was finally
allowed to immigrate to the
United States in 1986.

In the 1980s, Jaan Ehlvest

(1962- ) of Estonia was once
banned from playing chess by
the Estonian Sports Committee
after a drinking incident in
Tallinn.

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union

banned cosmonauts from
playing chess in space with each
other (they can play against
ground control personnel) after a
fist fight once broke out between
cosmonauts after one of the
cosmonauts lost his game to the
other cosmonaut.

In 1986, Nick Down was banned

from British correspondence
tournaments after entering the
1985-86 British Ladies
Correspondence Chess
Championship as a woman and
winning the event.

In 1986, FIDE banned

Grandmaster Quinteros of
Argentina from playing chess in
international events for three
years because he violated a
sanction and played chess in
South Africa.

In 1986, Susan Polgar was

banned from the men's world
chess championship after
qualifying, forcing FIDE to
change the rules and allow
women to compete against men.

In 1986, Israel was banned from

the chess Olympiad held in
Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE).

In 1987, International Master

Ricardo Calvo of Spain was
banned for 5 years by FIDE for
insulting South American chess
players in his journalism.

In 1987, Grandmaster Miguel

Quinteros (1947- ) of Argentina
was suspended and banned from
FIDE events for three years for
violating the FIDE ban on South
Africa twice. He played a 6-
game exhibition match in
Johnnesburg in 1988. Other
players banned because they
played chess in South Africa
included Ludek Pachman (1924-
2003), Karl Robatsch (1929-
2000), who was banned for one
year, and Hans Kestler (1939- ).

In 1991, FIDE banned smoking

in all FIDE chess events.

In 1993, chess was banned from

American River College in
California because of disruptive
behavior on people playing in
the cafeteria and library.
Campus police ordered some
chess players to stop playing
chess. The players refused and
the campus police confiscated
the chess board and pieces.

In 1994, chess was banned in

Afghanistan by Mullah
Mohammad Omar and the
Taliban edicts. Anyone caught
playing chess were beaten or
imprisoned. Chess was banned
from 1994 through 2001.

In 1996, some high schools in

Salt Lake City, Utah banned
chess along with other non-
academic clubs to prevent a club
for gay high school students
from organizing.

In 1997, Oak Mountain

Intermediate School in
Birmingham, Alabama banned
chess in school because it was
"too competitive and did not
foster the appropriate spirit
commensurate with school
principles."

In 2001, Bobby Fischer was

banned from the USCF after his
comments about the United
States after the 9/11 terrorist
attack.

In 2002, chess players were

banned from malls in Hyde Park
in Chicago.

In 2003, former world chess

champion Ruslan Ponomariov
was banned from a the European
Team Championship when his
cell phone rang during the
course of the event. He was the
first person banned under the
new FIDE law banning players
from receiving cell phone calls.

In 2004, Libya banned the

Israeli chess team from playing
in the world chess
championships in Tripoli.

In 2005, Grandmaster Mato

Damjanovic was banned from
tournament play for one year for
pretending to play in a chess
tournament (Kali Cup) which
did not exist.

In 2005, Fair Haven Union High

School banned chess after the
school banned all games. The
administration said that they did
not want to have students play
cards in school, so they banned
all games, including the chess
club. Despite that, the school
tied for 1st place in the Vermont
State Scholastic Chess
Championship in 2006.

In 2006, during a tournament at

Subroto Park in India, Umakant
Sharma was caught receiving
instructions from an accomplice
using a chess computer via a
Bluetooth-enabled device
embedded in his cap. He was
banned from playing
competitive chess for 10 years.

In 2006, at the World Open in

Philadelphia, Steve Rosenberg
was leading before the final
round in one of the sections. He
was playing for $18,000 if he
won his last round. But he was
caught using a wireless
transmitter and receiver in his
ear (Rosenberg claimed it was a
hearing aid) and was
disqualified and banned from
the event.

In 2007, a team of East Valley

home-schooled students who
won the 2006 Arizona
Scholastic Championship was
banned from the 2007
championship, held in Tucson.
Rules were changed to not allow
home-schooled students from
participating. Only public and
private schools were allowed to
participate in the event.

In 2007, a chess team captain

was caught outside the playing
room using a PDA with a Pocket
Fritz chess playing program.
The player was banned to play
in any further league matches.

In 2007, a Dutch player was

banned from playing in the
Dutch League and Cup matches
for three years after being
caught using a PDA with Pocket
Fritz outside the playing hall.
The arbiter caught him using the
device while stepping outside to
get some fresh air.

In 2007, Krzysztof Ejsmont of

Poland was banned expelled
from the Tadeusz Gniot
Memorial tournament after 7
rounds for "unsportive play." He
was accused of using a chess
program to make his moves.

In 2008, Grandmaster Vassily

Ivanchuk almost became the
first grandmaster to be banned
for two years from World Chess
Federation (FIDE) tournaments
when he refused to take a drug
test after the last round at the
Chess Olympiad in Dresden. He
declined to provide a urine
sample after losing the last
round to GM Gata Kamsky,
saying it was an insult to his
intelligence and honor.

In 2008, Ethiopia, Uganda, and

Nigeria Chess Federations were
barred from the 2008 Chess
Olympiad in Dresden, Germany
because of their failures to pay
their annual FIDE dues. The
countries later work out their
issues and were able to play.
Before the Chess Olympiad
started, 25 nations owed dues
money to FIDE. Eventually, 23
countries paid their dues except
the Ethiopia, Uganda, and
Nigeria Chess Federations.

In 2008, at the Dubai Open, M.

Sadatnajafi was caught receiving
suggested moves by text
message on his mobile phone.
He was banned and disqualified
from the tournament.

In 2009, fundamentalist Muslim

religious schools in Britain
banned chess.

In 2009, Indian Grandmaster

G.N. Gopal was banned for one
year in all India events for
failing to appear in the National
Championship. The ban was
later revoked.

In 2009, during the Australian

Norths Chess Club Century
Year chess tournament, a 14-
year-old boy was caught using a
hand-held chess computer in the
bathroom. The boy was expelled
from the tournament and banned
for 2 years by the Australian
Chess Federation.

In 2009, Grandmaster Susan

Polgar and her husband were
banned from the USCF after
being accused of posting nasty
remarks on the Internet in the
name of another chess player.

In 2009, the Bulgarian Chess

Federation barred ChessBase
from broadcasting the Topalov-
Kamsky semi-finals World
Chess Challenge match, citing
copyright infringement.

In January 2010, FIDE banned

the Peruvian National Chess
Team from all international
competition because of a debt of
7,800 euros owed to FIDE as
membership dues.

In 2010, San Francisco banned

chess from being played on
Market Street.

In 2010, New York City banned

chess from adults at Emerson
Playground. In October 2010,
seven chess players were issued
summonses by the New York
Police Department for playing
chess there.

In 2011, Iranian grandmaster

Ehsan Ghaem Maghami refused
to play his 4th round chess game
against Israel's Ehud Sachar at
the Corisca Masters tournament.
As a result of his refusal,
Maghami was barred from the
rest of the tournament.

In 2011, the president of the

English Chess Federation, CJ de
Mooi, was barred from
presenting prizes at the British
chess championships in
Sheffield because he was
wearing a gay rights T-shirt. The
shirt bore the slogan, "Some
people are gay, get over it."

In 2011, three French chess

players, GM Sebastien Feller,
GM Arnaud Hauchard, and IM
Cyril Marzolo, were banned for
up to 5 years for cheating in the
2010 Chess Olympiad in
Khanty-Mansiysk. They were
using text messages to transmit
moves to each other.

In 2011, Rybka, the strongest

computer engine in the world,
and it creator, Vasik Rajlich,
were banned from all future
World Computer Chess
championship tournaments until
the program no longer contained
derivatives of other chess engine
programs. Rajlich was given a
lifetime ban by the International
Computer Games Association
(ICGA).

In 2011, during the German

Chess Championship, FIDE
master Christop Natsidis used a
chess program on his
smartphone. He later admitted
that he had cheated and was
banned and disqualified from
the championship.

In 2011, FIDE banned and

suspended the Bangladesh Chess
Federation following the unpaid
dues of 35,000 Turkish dollars.
FIDE also removed all the rated
chess players of Bangladesh
from the FIDE website. This
was the second time that the
Bangladesh Chess Federation
was suspended for not paying
their dues.

In 2012, a national master from

Pakistan was banned for 10
years for fixing chess matches
and bribing chess players.

In 2012, a player, Clark Smiley,

was caught using a chess engine
(Fritz) on a PDA during the
Virginia Scholastic and
Collegiate Championships. The
player was banned and
disqualified from the
tournament, had his membership
to the Virginia Chess Federation
(VCF) revoked, and had an
ethics complaint filed to the
USCF. Smiley was given
permission to use the PDA
device to keep a digital record of
each move using eNotate — but
only for that purpose. But he
also had a chess engine installed
on the device and was using that
to make his moves.

In 2012, women who wore low-

cut blouses were banned in the
European Women's Chess
Championship in Turkey.

In October 2012, a German

grandmaster, Falko Bindrich,
was suspected of cheating at the
German Bundesliga team match
by using an analysis program on
his smartphone. He refused to be
searched or turn over his
smartphone, whereupon his
game was declared lost.
Bindrich claimed that there was
private and corporate
confidential information on his
phone. The German Chess
Federation banned him for two
years.
In 2012, GM Suat Atalik of
Turkey was given a 15-month
ban from international play by
the Turkish Chess Federation.
The ban was a result of his
refusal to sign a Turkish Chess
Federation document stating that
he is responsible for all financial
consequences of his
participation in chess
tournaments abroad. Further,
that he will "act in accordance
with the responsibilities of a
national athlete" and won't
commit "any activity against the
Turkish Republic."

In 2013, San Francisco banned

chess at the corner of Fifth and
Market streets, where chess had
been played for over 30 years.
The San Francisco Police
Department came by and
confiscated all the chess sets,
chess clocks, chairs, and tables
were dozens of people would
gather every day to play chess.
Police said the area had become
a hotbed for illegal gambling
and drug use.

In 2013, at the Cork Congress

Chess Open, a 16-year-old
player was found to be using a
chess program on a smartphone
when his opponent, Gabrial
Mirza, confronted him in the
bathroom, kicking down the
cubicle door and physically
hauling him out. Mirza received
a 10-month chess ban in
England for bringing chess into
disrepute for his violent conduct,
while his 16-year-old opponent
was banned for 4 months.

In 2013, Loris Cereda, a former

mayor of a town in Italy, was
banned from all chess
tournaments sponsored by the
Italian Chess Federation for
cheating. He was accused of
using a tiny camera in his
glasses and using an earpiece
while playing his chess games.
He was alleged to have been
receiving advice from someone
with access to a computer.

In 2013, dozens of chess players

were barred from chess.com,
accused of cheating. One chess
teacher, Henry Despres, denied
cheating and opened a lawsuit in
Brooklyn federal court. He
wanted an apology, along with
$200,000 damages because of
defamation, libel and the loss of
chess lessons and book sales.

In 2014, Wesley Vermeulan of

the Netherlands was caught
cheating by consulting a mobile
phone in the bathroom. He was
banned for one year by both the
Dutch chess federation and
FIDE.

In 2015, FIDE banned Garry

Kasparov and former FIDE
general secretary Ignatius Leong
from holding any office or
position in FIDE for two years.
They were found guilty of
violating the FIDE Moral Code
as the two made a deal to get
Singapore to vote for Kasparov
in the FIDE election.

In April 2015, grandmaster

Gaioz Nigalidze of Georgia was
banned from the Dubai Open for
using an electronic device. The
device was hide in one of the
bathroom cubicles of the Dubai
Chess and Culture Club during
his sixth-round game with
Armenia's Tigran Petrosian.
Nigalidze faces a 15-year ban.

In June 2015, Italian amateur

Arcangelo Ricciardi was banned
from a tournament in Italy for
allegedly receiving moves
transmitted to him in Morse
code by an accomplice. He had a
small camera to transmit the
moves of each game he played
and a device for receiving coded
messages.

In January 2016, Stein Bjornsen,

a 50-year-old blind Norwegian
chess player, was caught
cheating when it was discovered
that the ear plug that he was
using was incompatible with his
recorder, but it was capable of
receiving messages by
Bluetooth. He was banned from
Norwegian chess for 2 years.

In February 2016, Sergey

Asianov was caught for hiding a
smartphone in the bathroom at
the Moscow Open. He has
banned from organized chess
events for one year.

In 2016, a chess organizer and a

chess arbiter in India were
barred from all chess-related
activities for a year for
disobeying the orders of the
United Karnataka Chess
Association. Another player,
Rohan Vijay Shandilya, was
banned from all chess activities
for 3 years for disguising his
identity at a chess tournament.

In September 2016, FIDE barred

the Bulgarian Chess Federation
from any international activity
in chess. It also barred Silvio
Danailov, former President of
the Bulgarian Chess Federation,
for 18 months for allegations of
possible wrongdoing.

In 2016, Rwanda banned their

chess federation as part of
efforts to streamline their sports
sector. The Rwanda Sports
ministry wanted to stop funding
'unrecognized' federations such
as the Rwanda Chess
Federation. Chess players are
banded from organizing or
participating in any local or
foreign tournaments and will no
longer be funded by the
government.

In February 2017, an 18-year-

old woman chess grandmaster,
Dorsa Derakhshani, was kicked
off the Iranian national chess
team after competing in an
international chess tournament
(Tradewise Gibraltar Chess
Festival) without a hijab
(headscarf). She has been
prohibited from competing in
national tournaments, and from
joining the Iranian national
chess team.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia's grand

mufti, Sheikh Abdulla al-
Sheikh, wanted to ban chess,
saying that playing chess is
forbidden in Islam. He said that
chess encourages gambling and
is a waste of time and caused
hatred and enmity between
players.

On August 25, 2016, FIDE

President Kirsan Ilyumzhino
was barred from boarding a
plane from Moscow to New
York. He was on a sanctions
lists by the U.S. Treasury
Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control for allegedly
"materially assisting and acting
for or on behalf of the
Government of Syria."

In 2017, grandmaster Zhang

Zhong of Singapore and his
wife, Woman International
Master Li Roufan, were banned
from the Asian Zonals. They
refused to sign and ratify the
Singapore Federation Players
Agreement. The couple had 3
days to sign it, and they refused
due to the rush and that the
agreement was too complicated,
with too many clauses, and they
needed more time.

In February 2017, 15-year-old

Bona Derakhshani was banned
from any Iranian chess
tournaments because he
competed against an Israeli
chess player at the Tradewise
Gibraltar Chess Festival. Iran
does not recognize the state of
Israel, and forbids its
competitors from facing off
against Israeli rivals at sporting
events, including chess.

In February 2017, the women's

U.S. chess champion, Nazi
Paikidze, was banned from the
World Women's Chess
Championship in Iran because
she refused to wear a headscarf.
Other top women chose not to
participate because of the strict
code to wear a hijab include
world number 1 female player
and world women's champion
Hou Yifan and 2015 women's
world champion, Mariya
Muzychuk.

On April 12, 2017, a 12-year-old

girl was barred from a chess
tournament in Putrajaya,
Malaysia over a 'seductive'
dress. The tournament was the
2017 Malaysian National
Scholastic Chess Championship.
It was a pretty knee-length
dress. The girl was a district
chess champion and was unable
to find a suitable outfit for the
next round due to the timing of
the incident. She was told that
she could not wear that dress at
10 pm for the next round that
start 9 am next morning. The
tournament director told her and
her mother that she could only
wear slacks and not a dress.
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