A space to relieve the pressure of war.. A young woman establishes a community for chess enthusiasts in Gaza | Lifestyle

While the war of extermination launched by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip narrowed all areas of life and made entertainment a rarity, dozens of young men and women found a different refuge on a small patch of black and white squares, where there was no sound of bombing and no room for noise. Just focus, patience, and a temporary attempt to regain some psychological balance through the game of chess.

From this idea, a youth initiative was launched led by Raghad Tariq Adas, a public relations and media student, a player in the Chess Federation and a certified coach, who decided to transform her personal relationship with the game into a collective space that gives others a chance to breathe amid the reality of war.

Raghad told Al Jazeera that her relationship with chess began years ago, after the game left a profound impact on her personality and way of thinking, which later prompted her to think about transferring this experience to others.

With the outbreak of the war on Gaza, the idea transformed from a simple volunteer activity within shelter schools to what has become known today as the “chess community,” as an attempt to create a safe space for players to help them relieve stress and move away, even temporarily, from the pressures of reality.

Amid the displacement and repeated disruption of normal life, establishing the initiative was not easy. According to Raghad, those responsible for it faced great difficulties, starting with the scarcity of good chess pieces within the Gaza Strip, which forced them to buy poor-quality pieces from the local market to ensure the continuation of activity, through the lack of a fixed headquarters, and constant movement between different places, all the way to the difficulty of bringing in tools from outside Gaza due to the restrictions imposed.

Despite all this, the idea continued to grow gradually, from small meetings with limited capabilities, to a community that today includes nearly a hundred players, both male and female, of different ages and backgrounds. School students, Tawjihi, university students, and graduates gathered around one game that did not distinguish between age, gender, or social background.

Raghad confirms that what distinguishes chess is its ability to bring together this diversity in one space, adding: “Chess only addresses the mind, so it was able to bring everyone together without any discrimination.”

For community members, the game is no longer just a hobby. Abdul Rahman Al-Aloul, a third-year student at the Faculty of Human Medicine at the Islamic University of Gaza, found in chess a different space to face the pressure of war.

Al-Aloul told Al Jazeera that the game has become his means of escaping from daily anxiety and a reality full of harsh scenes, adding that it gives him some mental calm in the absence of safe places for entertainment.

Al-Aloul points out that the lack of tools and the difficulty of accessing boards and tables have led some players to resort to electronic versions of the game, as a temporary alternative that allows them to continue, even if it does not fully replace the real experience.