Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen returns to Blitz World Championship on Monday after his governing body agreed to loosen a dress code that fined him and banned him from playing in the late round of the second tournament for refusing to change into jeans.
Complaining about the fraud, International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement on Sunday that he would allow World Blitz tournament officials to consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket and other “elegant minor deviations” from the dress code.
Said Carlsen’s attitude – culminating in his withdrawal from the tournament on Friday — noted the need for further discussion “to ensure that our rules and their application reflect the evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport.”
Carlsen, meanwhile, said in a video posted on social media on Sunday that he will be playing – and wearing jeans – at the World Cup when it starts on Monday.
“I think the situation was handled badly on their part,” said the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster. But he added that he likes to play blitz — a fast form of chess — and wanted fans to be able to watch, and that he was encouraged by his talks with the federation after Friday’s clash.
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“I think we kind of all want the same thing,” he suggested in a video on the YouTube channel of chess app Take Take Take. “We want the players to be comfortable, safe, but also relatively representative.”
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The events began when Carlsen wore jeans and a sports jacket on Friday at the World Sprint Championships, which is separate from but held alongside the race. The chess federation said Friday that long-standing rules forbid jeans at those tournaments, and players are stationed nearby to make it easier to change clothes if needed.
The official fined Carlsen $200 and asked him to change his pants, but he refused and was not given a pair for the ninth-round match, the federation said at the time. The organization noted that another grandmaster, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined earlier in the day for wearing sports shoes, changing clothes and continuing to play.
Carlsen said he offered to wear something else the next day, but officials were adamant. He said “it became a bit of a matter of principle”, so he gave up the fast and fast championships.
In a video released on Sunday, he questioned whether he had indeed broken the rule and said changing clothes would unnecessarily interfere with his concentration between games. He called the sentence “incredibly harsh.”
“Of course, I could change. Obviously, I didn’t want to,” he said, and “I stand by that.”
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