I have heard the same but up till now in my research have not found anything to indicate that it is Haram
However pleae do note that in olden days people used to play chess to gamble...gambling is haram, thus playing chess to gamble would obiviously be as well.
Also another aspect in which it becomes haram is when people get obsessed with it, spending hours upon hours playing it and wasting their time.
An innocent game of chess is ok, but for people who make it a habit and sit all day long playing chess with complete disregard of time or anything else - it becomes haram for them - as is in the case of most things when done in an obsessive access.