Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is back at World Blitz Championship Monday after its governing body agreed to relax a dress code that landed him a fine and denied him entry into a late match in another tournament for refusing to change out of jeans.
Lamenting the setbacks, International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement Sunday that he would let World Blitz Championship tournament officials consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket, as well as other “elegant minor deviations” from the dress code.
He said Carlsen’s position… which resulted in his withdrawal from the tournament on Friday — stressed the need for more discussion “to ensure our rules and their application reflect the evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport.”
Carlsen, meanwhile, said in a video posted to social media on Sunday that he would play – and wear jeans – in the World Blitz Championship when it begins on Monday.
“I think the situation was handled very poorly on their side,” said the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster. But he added that he loves playing blitz – a rapid form of chess – and wanted fans to be able to watch it, and was encouraged by his discussions with the federation after Friday’s showdown.
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“I think we all kind of want the same thing,” he suggested in the video on the YouTube channel of his Take Take Take chess app. “We want the players to be comfortable, of course, but also relatively presentable.”
Events began with Carlsen wearing jeans and a sport coat Friday for the World Rapid Championship, which is separate but held in conjunction with the blitz event. The chess federation said Friday that long-standing rules prohibit jeans at these tournaments and that players are housed nearby to facilitate clothing changes if necessary.
An official fined Carlsen $200 and asked him to change his pants, but he refused and was not matched for a 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 sneakers, changing and continuing to play.
Carlsen said he offered to wear something else the next day, but officials were adamant. He said “it became a matter of principle”, so he left the rapid and blitz championships.
In the video posted Sunday, he questioned whether he had actually broken a rule and said changing clothes would have unnecessarily interrupted his concentration between matches. He called the punishment “incredibly harsh.”
“Of course I could have changed. Obviously I didn’t want that,” he said, and “I stand by that.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
