well known among the scholars:
The first is that the obligation has not been discharged. This is the view of Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Hāmid, Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī, and others. The point is that chess is forbidden by scholarly consensus whenever it distracts from any inward or outward obligation. That it distracts from fulfilling obligations properly is too obvious to require elaboration.
The same applies if it distracts from an obligation other than prayer: attending to one’s own or one’s family’s welfare, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, maintaining kinship ties, honouring one’s parents, or discharging necessary responsibilities in an office of authority, a position of leadership, or any other matter. Rarely does anyone occupy himself with it without its distracting him from an obligation. It should therefore be understood that its prohibition in such circumstances is agreed upon.
Likewise, if it involves or entails something forbidden, it is forbidden by consensus. Examples include lying, false oaths, cheating—which they call mughādāh—or wrongdoing or assistance in it. Such conduct is forbidden by Muslim consensus even in racing and archery contests; how much more so in chess, backgammon, and similar games!
Likewise, if it is assumed to entail some other harm, such as gatherings involving preliminaries to sexual immorality, cooperation in aggression, or the like; or if playing it becomes so frequent and conspicuous that it entails neglecting an obligation or committing something forbidden—Muslims agree that playing it in these and similar circumstances is forbidden.
Even supposing it to be free of all these things, what is transmitted from the Companions is that they prohibited it. It is authentically reported that ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, passed by some people playing chess