Magnus Carlsen Quits Chess Tournament After Refusing to Change Out of Jeans
Magnus Carlsen quit the World Rapid Chess Championship on Friday, reports CNN, “after he refused to change out of the jeans he was wearing…”
“Carlsen, the world champion from 2013 until 2023, allegedly replied, ‘I’m out, f*** you,’ after being informed that he would not be permitted to continue,” reports the Hindustan Times.
The International Chess Federation (or FIDE) “said in a statement that Carlsen breached the tournament’s dress code by wearing jeans,” reports CNN:
As a result, Carlsen would not have been paired for round nine, though he could have returned for the rest of the tournament had he not decided to walk away, per Chess.com. Since he had performed poorly in the earlier rounds, there was little chance that Carlsen could have defended his title regardless….
The standoff became “a matter of principle” for Carlsen, he told chess channel Take Take Take. “I haven’t appealed, honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much, if this is what they want to do … nobody wants to back down, if this is where we are, that’s fine by me,” he said. “I’ll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here and that’s it.” He explained that he had been at a lunch meeting before heading to the tournament’s second day and “barely had time to go the room, change, put on a shirt, jacket and honestly I didn’t even think about the jeans.”
Carlsen was also fined $200, according to the article. He has now also withdrawn from the World Blitz Championship which follows this tournament.
In a statement, the FIDE said their dress code and other regulations “are designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants,” and that the federation “remains committed to promoting chess and its values, including respect for the rules that all participants agree to follow.”
The group’s CEO added “Rules are applicable to all the participants, and it would be unfair towards all players who respected the dress-code, and those who were previously fined.” (They added that “We gave Magnus more than enough time to change. But as he had stated himself in his interview — it became a matter of principle for him.”)
CNN notes that Carlsen has already won five world rapid and seven world blitz titles in the last 10 years…
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Magnus Carlsen quit the World Rapid Chess Championship on Friday, reports CNN, “after he refused to change out of the jeans he was wearing…”
“Carlsen, the world champion from 2013 until 2023, allegedly replied, ‘I’m out, f*** you,’ after being informed that he would not be permitted to continue,” reports the Hindustan Times.
The International Chess Federation (or FIDE) “said in a statement that Carlsen breached the tournament’s dress code by wearing jeans,” reports CNN:
As a result, Carlsen would not have been paired for round nine, though he could have returned for the rest of the tournament had he not decided to walk away, per Chess.com. Since he had performed poorly in the earlier rounds, there was little chance that Carlsen could have defended his title regardless….
The standoff became “a matter of principle” for Carlsen, he told chess channel Take Take Take. “I haven’t appealed, honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much, if this is what they want to do … nobody wants to back down, if this is where we are, that’s fine by me,” he said. “I’ll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here and that’s it.” He explained that he had been at a lunch meeting before heading to the tournament’s second day and “barely had time to go the room, change, put on a shirt, jacket and honestly I didn’t even think about the jeans.”
Carlsen was also fined $200, according to the article. He has now also withdrawn from the World Blitz Championship which follows this tournament.
In a statement, the FIDE said their dress code and other regulations “are designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants,” and that the federation “remains committed to promoting chess and its values, including respect for the rules that all participants agree to follow.”
The group’s CEO added “Rules are applicable to all the participants, and it would be unfair towards all players who respected the dress-code, and those who were previously fined.” (They added that “We gave Magnus more than enough time to change. But as he had stated himself in his interview — it became a matter of principle for him.”)
CNN notes that Carlsen has already won five world rapid and seven world blitz titles in the last 10 years…
Read more of this story at Slashdot.