World No.1 Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the World Rapid Chess Championship following a dispute over his choice of attire, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between the chess legend and the sport’s governing body.

The dress code standoff

“World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen quit the World Rapid Chess Championship on Friday after he refused to change out of the jeans he was wearing, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE).” The incident led to Carlsen’s withdrawal from both the ongoing tournament and the upcoming World Blitz Championship, where he holds a remarkable record of five rapid and seven blitz titles over the past decade.

The incident

According to FIDE, the controversy began when Carlsen violated tournament dress code regulations by wearing jeans. After being approached by the Chief Arbiter and receiving a $200 fine, Carlsen declined to change his attire. “This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players,” FIDE stated, noting that another competitor, Ian Nepominatchi, had complied with similar requests regarding his footwear.

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Carlsen’s perspective

Speaking to chess channel Take Take Take, Carlsen said, “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 his circumstances: “I 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.”

“I got here and I don’t know if it was after the first game or the second game … I got a fine, which is fine, and then I got a warning that I would not be paired if I didn’t go change my clothes,” he said.

“They said I could do it after the third round today. I said I’ll change tomorrow if that’s ok, I didn’t even realize today. But they said you have to change now.”

Deeper tensions surface

The dress code incident appears to be symptomatic of broader tensions between Carlsen and FIDE. The Norwegian grandmaster expressed diminishing patience with the organization, particularly regarding disputes over Freestyle Chess, a variant he promotes. FIDE’s CEO Emil Sutovsky strongly countered Carlsen’s claims about the organization’s stance on Freestyle Chess, calling them a “lie” and defending FIDE’s position as chess’s governing body.

The timing of Carlsen’s withdrawal, while significant, came when his tournament prospects were already diminished due to poor performance in earlier rounds. The incident has sparked discussions about the balance between maintaining professional standards and accommodating modern attitudes in professional chess.