Chess.app cannot be deleted because it is required by Mac OS X???

Every Apple application bundled with El Capitan is protected from deletion or modification by a new security related feature called System Integrity Protection ("SIP" for short). The idea is to prevent malware from being able to alter these apps to do something evil or for anything or anyone to delete those necessary for normal system operation. However well intentioned, Apple included even its apps that aren't essential & may never be used by most people.

If you think this is too heavy handed, that at least some of those apps should not be protected, please send Apple feedback about it.

FYI, currently all these apps are protected:

/Applications/App Store.app

/Applications/Automator.app

/Applications/Calculator.app

/Applications/Calendar.app

/Applications/Chess.app

/Applications/Contacts.app

/Applications/Dashboard.app

/Applications/Dictionary.app

/Applications/DVD Player.app

/Applications/FaceTime.app

/Applications/Font Book.app

/Applications/Game Center.app

/Applications/Image Capture.app

/Applications/Launchpad.app

/Applications/Mail.app

/Applications/Maps.app

/Applications/Messages.app

/Applications/Mission Control.app

/Applications/Notes.app

/Applications/Photo Booth.app

/Applications/Photos.app

/Applications/Preview.app

/Applications/QuickTime Player.app

/Applications/Reminders.app

/Applications/Safari.app

/Applications/Stickies.app

/Applications/System Preferences.app

/Applications/TextEdit.app

/Applications/Time Machine.app

/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app

/Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app

/Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app

/Applications/Utilities/Bluetooth File Exchange.app

/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app

/Applications/Utilities/ColorSync Utility.app

/Applications/Utilities/Console.app

/Applications/Utilities/Digital Color Meter.app

/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app

/Applications/Utilities/Feedback Assistant.app

/Applications/Utilities/Grab.app

/Applications/Utilities/Grapher.app

/Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app

/Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app

/Applications/Utilities/Script Editor.app

/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app

/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

/Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app

Why is a game required by an operating system???

How do you expect your Mac to entertain itself while you're not using it?

Chess is not an app you manually have to add to the computer if you want it, it comes with the operating system when you install it. It's like Mail, Safari, and iTunes in that respect. I don't play Chess either, mostly because I can't understand how to play it, so I just ignore it. It's not taking up an absurd amount of space on your hard drive.

good news everyone! (couldn't help it.)

they appear to be protected if you try and remove from the terminal as well as long as they are in the Applications folder.

thanks R C-R, I wasn't aware of this feature.

I made a backup before I tested this out just in case.

JimmyCMPIT wrote:

they appear to be protected if you try and remove from the terminal as well as long as they are in the Applications folder.

They are protected even from alteration or removal by the root (system) user so using "sudo" won't work either. This is why SIP is sometimes called "rootless."

The Chess app has been baked into OS X for as long as I can remember. Its 10MB on disk. I think you can safely ignore it. 🙂

It has nothing to do with the App. All apps installed with the OS have the same message, whether or not they are actually required.

Your avatar is rightly earned sir!

TY.