This is great...I'd never have the gall to post a thread like this, simply due to so many different beliefs regarding the afterlife.
I actually just had this conversation with a friend the other day. With both of us being stong believers in reincarnation, and chess being so old (what, six thousand years arguably?) my take is, those that have come and gone (and come again), also could not part with it so easily.
May sound crazy to some, but I can imagine an afterlife where chess is played regularly by many beings.
Any evidence or clues 2 support or declare this a possibility?
For some religions we will be very busy with little girls or guys (I read the term Uri, but didn't check which sex they had) maybe depending on individual tastes, plus all those 70 virgins to introduce to the ... well maybe introduce is not the right verb, but in any case after all that work, we would be too tired to play chess.