not even a single chess club in Islamabad

Its ridiculous not having a single chess club in here. Please someone come up

[Deleted by EscherehcsE]

Should we add the guy in the corner to the list of program users?

[Deleted by EscherehcsE]

it is not necessary to speak if you dont have anything relevant (Mr. EscherehcsE specially)..Thank you all

Most people don't mind a little humor, as long as it doesn't get mean or end up hijacking the thread. (One small benefit to injecting a bit of light-hearted humor is that it bumps the thread so that others can see the thread for a longer period of time.)

But, since you only want relevant comments, I will abide by your wishes and delete my previous posts. The only relevant comment I do have is that I'm not sure exactly what you meant in your original post when you stated, "Please someone come up". Are you asking the viewers of your thread to visit your city? Or are you asking them to move to your city? (Maybe you're only speaking to current residents of Islamabad? If so, you should make that clear in your posts.) I know for certain that I won't be visiting Islamabad anytime soon (actually, I can guarantee that it will never happen). That's the end of my relevant information, so now I must be going...

Please take the place of anyone who finds this thread, and try to figure how to have anything relevant to say.

Why don't you found one?

He can't find enough money to found one, probably.

And probably can't just up sticks and move to another city.

Why don't u come 2 Brooklyn? We have a real nice chess club here in the public library. Its entirely free and while you' re there u can borrow books & DVDs 2 take home. Ain't America great!

Here's a facebook page for a chess club in Islamabad. Says they meet every Sunday at Jinah Supermarket.

no tengo nada que decir de pakastan

Still you got the Margalla hills, they are pretty awesome.

Thank you all for your sincere and sometimes funny replies lol , enjoyed and appreciated and sorry if someone get hurted by my comments I didn't meant it

Isn't chess considered makrooh or haram in Islam? That could explain the problem...

That is a very interesting thought.  I read an article once which stated that the prophet considered the pieces to be a litte idolatrous, cannot say if its true ir not.  However i doubt that would be much of a problem in Islamabad.

According to the wiki, about 96 percent of the population is Muslim. I don't know how seriously they take it, but from what I've seen, most Muslims don't joke around with their religion...

If I remember correctly (and I'm hardly a scholar of Islam), there are quite a few different opinions. Some say that it's halal or perhaps makrooh unless it's played for money, leads to violence/anger, or distracts one from their religious obligations (i.e. missing salat), in which case it is haram, as anything else would be. Others say it's always haram. And still others say that only backgammon and shatranj (the games in the time of Muhammad) are haram - this would seem to be the most literal interpretation.

So, I'd guess religion would be a part of why it's not popular over there. Do they have regional variants or similar board games in Islamabad that might be much more popular - perhaps some form of "Pakistani chess?"

Chess was once a very popular game in the Muslim world.  They made the pieces abstract shapes to get around the idolatry issues.  Not sure where it stands today.

Its a little more complicated.  Muslim faith is based upon the Koran and guided by the Hadiths or sayings of the prophet.  Some of these Hadiths are controversial and their legitimacy questioned.  I did manage to find two Hadiths related to chess and it was viewed in an unfavourable light.  Would this necessarily stop young Pakistani Muslims from playing chess? I doubt it, although it may be a factor.