The church tried many times to ban chess for various reasons. First in 1061, Cardinal Petrus Damiani considered it a game of chance like dice. Later in 1093, the Eastern Orthodox church condemned chess as a reclic of heathenism. John Zonaras, a Byzantine monk excommunicated chess players in 1110 as a kind of debauchery, stating it as a rule of Apostolic Canon. Later in 1125, Bishop Guy of Paris also excommunicated priests who were caught playing chess.

Because of this, a chess enthusiastic priest later devised a secretive folding chess board that looked like a book. This in fact was the origin of the portable chess board.