World chess champion Magnus Carlsen left the World Rapid and Blitz Championships on Friday, Dec. 27 after he refused to change out of his jeans in accordance with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) dress codeCarlsen could have returned to the tournament the following day, but opted not to as “a matter of principle,” he later said in an interviewIn the same interview, the Norwegian chess grandmaster also told FIDE “f— you” and accused the organization of threatening players who wished to sign with his chess venture, Freestyle Chess — a claim that FIDE’s CEO later called a “lie”
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen dropped out of the World Rapid and Blitz Championships after refusing to ditch his jeans in compliance with the event dress code in what he called “a matter of principle.”
After the 34-year-old Norwegian chess grandmaster — who is both a five-time World Rapid Chess Champion and the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion — arrived at the second day of the New York chess tournament on Friday, Dec. 27 in denim, he was fined and asked to change into attire that complies with the dress code, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said in a statement.
Carlsen “breached the dress code by wearing jeans, which are explicitly prohibited under long-standing regulations for this event,” the organization said. “The Chief Arbiter informed Mr. Carlsen of the breach, issued a $200 fine and requested that he change his attire. Unfortunately, Mr. Carlsen declined and, as a result, he was not paired for round nine.”
The reigning Blitz champion was not technically banned from the tournament and could have continued the following day, Emil Sutovsky, the CEO of FIDE, clarified in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) following the incident.
Sutovsky also said that he is “sorry for the situation that (occurred) — FIDE was very welcoming to Magnus and his family, and we never wanted it to explode,” but added that he fully supports the decision of the Chief Arbiter.
FIDE also assured that the decision to remove Carlsen from the event “was made impartially and applies equally to all players,” stating that another player, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined for a dress code violation earlier the same day but “complied, changed into approved attire and continued to play in the tournament.”
The organization also said that the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships dress code is “designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants” and has “been in place for years.”
Magnus Carlsen in the jeans that got him kicked out of a chess tournament in a photo he posted on X.
Magnus Carlsen/X.com
The rules “are well-known to all participants and are communicated to them ahead of each event,” FIDE said, adding that the players’ accommodations are located a “short walking distance” from the tournament, so they can change easily if situations like Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi’s arise.
Carlson reacted cheekily to Friday’s events on X, sharing a photo of himself in the jeans alongside the caption, “OOTD,” meaning “outfit of the day.”
He also explained the incident from his own perspective in an interview with chess app Take Take Takestating that he did not intentionally break the dress code, but rather “barely had time” to change. He also said he offered to ditch the denim the following day, but refused to do so on Friday as “a matter of principle.”
“I said, ‘I’ll change tomorrow if that’s okay, I just didn’t even realize it today,’ but they said, ‘Well, you have to change now,’ and, well, at that point it became, you know, a bit of a matter of principle for me,” he told Take Take Take. “And yeah, so here we are.”
“Honestly, I’m too old at this point to care too much. If this is what they (FIDE) want to do … I guess it goes both ways, right? Nobody wants to back down, and this is where we are. It’s fine by me,” the world chess champion further explained, adding that, in lieu of his departure from the tournament, he’ll “probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here.”
Carlsen has butted heads with FIDE over past tardiness at chess events — a recurrence that has even earned meme status online, per Take Take Take — but said he has not experienced anything exactly like this before.
He did, however, allege that FIDE has previously gone after players “to get them not to sign with” his chess venture, Freestyle Chess, “basically threatening them that they wouldn’t be able to play the world championship cycle if they played in Freestyle.”
“So honestly my patience with them was not very big to begin with, and it’s okay,” he added of the organization. “They can enforce their rules, that’s fine by me, and my response is that fine, then I’m out, like, f— you.”
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Carlsen’s claim that FIDE threatened players who wished to sign with Freestyle is a “lie,” Sutovsky later said on X, adding that “no player was threatened.”
“We were happy to cooperate (as we cooperate with Grand Chess Tour, for example), to align the calendars, etc.,” the CEO wrote. “We care about players, and about their opportunities — constantly improving prize funds and conditions in all our events, and working with numerous partners who conduct their tournaments outside of FIDE.”
“The only thing we insisted on — no Series or Tour can be called World Championship unless FIDE approves it,” Sutovsky added. “FIDE is the governing body of chess, and any World Championship should either be conducted or approved by FIDE.”
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