South Africa’s Chess Program Crisis Cuts to Core of Rainbow Nation's Issues December 24, 2020 share Print For the estimated 600 million chess players around the world, the ancient sport is taught as a game of skill and savage elegance, played out on a board where both sides are equal. But in South Africa, one of the world’s most unequal societies, which is still deeply divided along color lines, the business of chess is not so black and white. And in many ways, the sport’s struggles mirror the Rainbow Nation’s own three-decade journey to build a fair society. For three years, the national federation, Chess SA, has been embroiled in expensive lawsuits that have thrown the sport into confusion — and, Parliament argues, kept deserving, underprivileged players from representing the nation in vital tournaments. As a result, the government has suspended critical chess funding — about $120,000, per year — until they break the impasse.