Turkey’s leading chess organization is suing a local televangelist who publicly claimed that playing chess is more sinful than gambling.

On Monday, Turkish media reported that religious figure Amet Mahmut Ünlü (pictured) aka Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca had released a video informing his many followers that “playing chess is worse than gambling and eating pork.” Ünlü also accused chess players of being “more prone to lying than others” and being “cursed,” while imploring his followers to “count your prayer beads instead of playing games like this.”

Cursed or not, the Turkish Chess Federation (TSF) announced that same day that it had launched legal proceedings against Ünlü. The TSF issued a statement saying Ünlü’s remarks “are unacceptable and have drawn a reaction from our community.”

The TSF went on to say that its legal action against Ünlü was necessary to defend the integrity of the over 700 licensed chess ‘athletes’ who have “achieved many successes in recent years, from the Olympics to the European and World Championships.”