Hard to expand chess when chess is banned everywhere

Sitting back here in Italy I notice that chess is increasingly being banned by both businesses and local governments.  Most coffee shops have jumped on a trend to not allow people to play chess any more.  Other businesses that cater to the public do not allow chess to be played any more.  They cite all kinds of reasons but I think there is an ulterior motive, no?

On top this then city and municipal governments all over Europe are criminalising the playing of the chess in parks and public, citing vagrancy and nuisances.  I also hear one of the more libral cities in the States United (San Franncisco) also has banned playing the chess in downtown public areas, no)

These very bad trands for us chess players.   Under assault from both business and state.  Who would think this could occur in liberal democratic country in 21 c.?

So, either it's that bartenders want you to get off your seat faster to have a new customer, or it's a global conspiracy.

You want my guess ?

It's symptomatic of something deeper and more sinister.  People are losing freedoms by the day.  The people at least here in America can hardly ever vote for one of their own when the only choices are self-interested rich guy who attended prep school vs. self-interested rich guy who attended prep school.  It's like a tribe who’s vastly different from the majority runs everything, in government and the private sector. 

The people need to take power back into their own hands, even by force if necessary. 

America is becoming less authentic by the day (gentrification, sterile soulless new houses popping up, etc.) and I hear the trend is starting in Europe.

I like your attitude.  I think that gentrification, as I understand it, is a historical norm.  In European cities, the upper classes never abandoned the "inner city" like in the States United. 

To the Frenchman, please drop the snooty attitude.  I am sure you realise that in southern italy, the pace of things is much slower than in Paris.  Nobody needs to be shooing any customers off bar stools.

To Tigerprowl, yes as far as I know the bans apply to "Over Board" chess.  With boards and pieces.

Here's a pixellated elephant.

Now clear off troll.

I believe the posting of irrelevant photographs are against the rules of conduct here. 

Here in America the opposite trend is happening.  The Upper-classes buy out formerly working class neighborhoods and even former mansions turned libraries and museums are reverting back into mansions.  The working classes who rent now have to move out of their historic homes.  Williamsburg is a notorious gentrification hot spot. 

New houses keep getting built in suburbia, but they're soulless and lack the character of older houses.  Even Europe is getting increasingly ugly as Boston City Hall (world famous for being ugly even the Soviet Union would condemn it for being too plain and ugly and they were notorious for that blasé architecture) wouldn't exactly be out of place in Oslo unfortunately (no offense).  My five year old niece can draw a cube and color it in gray too, where's her degree in architecture?  She's certainly qualified if the standard is that low. 

The style with the grey boxes is typical 1960s and 70s style public architecture.  I know it well.  The Barbican Towers and Estate in London are the same.

Contemporary styles from the 1990s to the present are more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion compared to that.

Are you from Boston?  Great city.  Is chess banned there as well?  I know that Boston liked to ban books and such.

I know that in NewYork City they have people throughout Central Park who set up tables and play for money and not usually for the joy of the game. I can see why this can be seen as gambling or soliciting in the case of San Fransico (I read up on the reasons for the bans.) It also has attracted a lot of unwanted attension from police units because the people playing for money are usually homeless people who reside in the area and have had many disputes amoung themselves. It has also been repoted that they draw an "unfavorable crowd, where illegal gambling and narcotic sales happen regularly."

In private settings however, a private owner has the right to ask you to do just about anything in their place of business. I've personally only had problems with a few coffee houses that asked me to buy another drink or to leave. (I usually buy 1 drink very 2-3 hours and it keeps them happy becasue that's sometimes more than they'd make anyway.)

Personally, I can see how people are able to ban chess for monitary or public safety reasons, but I do agree that more places are doing it just to do it, with no real foundation for their claims. This is why I am a member of a local organization that promotes chess in primary and middle schools to get the next generation excited about chess. I am also a chess coach for one of the schoos that until last year didn't have a chess program. I encourage anyone that feels that chess is been slowly banned to join/form an organization that promotes the game in their own communities.

Feel free to message me about starting a chess program. I don't promise I have the answers, but I can point you in the right direction through my own personal experiences.

I've never had any trouble setting up a chessboard anywhere in England.

We order two pints, then set the board up and play, in a quiet part.

No permission asked, just a couple of punters going about their lawful business.

Xon: "but I do agree that more places are doing it just to do it, with no real foundation for their claims. This is why I am a member of a local organization that promotes chess in primary and middle schools to get the next generation excited about chess. I am also a chess coach for one of the schoos that until last year didn't have a chess program. I encourage anyone that feels that chess is been slowly banned to join/form an organization that promotes the game in their own communities."

Could you please expand on your statement that chess is being slowly banned for no apparent reason?  I agree with you that there have been public safety and business concerns in some of the anti-chess legislation and actions of cafe owners, but I think you are right in that there has also been much banning of chess for unstated, capricious, or arbitrary reasons (or even no reason). 

Why do you think this is happening in twenty-first century, prosperous and stable liberal democratic societies like Italy and the United States?

Hogwash.  We can vote for whomever we desire. 

The people need to take power back?  The "people" never have had any power.  Keep folks fed and sheltered and there will be no violent revolt.

Mussolini and Bigpoison would have gotten along well, methinks.

Yup, I'm a regular ol' fascist.  I'm not sure I can look so pompous with my chest and chin thrust out.

The San Francisco story is bogus, and was mostly hype.  There is no ban.  There are, however, laws about where and how you can congregate on public streets.

In bocca al lupo...

Grappa time.

I didn't realize more than 60 governments since World War II constituted "stable". 

You try to amuse yet fail miserably.  The system is stable.  Prime ministers rising and falling is all taking place within the system.  There has been no revolution nor any major changes in the political landscape outside of the system. 

Perhaps you are not aware of the definition of the word "ban".  There is no official ban...police are making their own calls on a case-by-case basis.