Tehran - Chess players in the central Iranian city of Kashan were aghast when their local ayatollah issued a religious decree or fatwa against their favourite game, the daily newspaper Arya said yesterday.
The fatwa, issued by Ayatollah Jafar Saburi, has had "a negative impact on the Kashan population and their religious life," chess association chairman Mr Ali Hashemi-Tehrani was quoted as saying. The municipality, he complained, "does not want chess boards in the parks any more".
