In some countries, great chess players are featured on currency: http://en.chessbase.com/post/estonia-celebrates-keres-100th-birthday
The cookoos are everywhere. "lose focus from their daily prayers and remembrance of God" ? That sounds like a huge bonus to me. In that case we should be playing more chess not less. Top Saudi cleric calls for ban on chess "DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A video clip of Saudi Arabia's top cleric saying that the game of chess is "forbidden" in Islam because it wastes time and leads to rivalry and enmity among people has provoked heated debate, and widespread criticism, among Arabic Twitter users. The clip was shared on YouTube in December, gaining traction in recent days on social media. Some Twitter users mocked Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdelaziz Al Sheikh, saying chess is an intelligent game and that is why conservative clerics decry it. Others defended his religious advice, saying that many other Islamic scholars have also warned that the game can be addictive and cause people to lose focus from their daily prayers and remembrance of God. Saudi Arabia's influential religious establishment adheres to a strict Sunni Islamic ideology known widely as Wahhabism...." http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/01/21/world/middleeast/ap-ml-saudi-forbidden-chess.html
My perspective, also. This is kind of the opposite to Soviet Russia, where religion was almost prohibited, for decades, but chess taught in all schools and state-sponsored.
A grandmaster took on a clueless chess hustler and the results were amazing http://www.businessinsider.com/grandmaster-plays-street-hustler-in-great-chess-video-2016-2
Here is the match schedule of the AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol historic Weiqi match: http://www.usgo.org/news/2016/03/alphago-vs-lee-sedol-match-schedule-and-details/