‘Mozart of chess’ rejoins tournament he was disqualified from for wearing jeans after dress rules changed
A five-time world chess champion who was disqualified from a tournament has rejoined after organisers allowed him to wear jeans.
Magnus Carlsen, who was once the youngest grandmaster in the world, was barred by the governing body FIDE for violating their strict dress rule.
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Carlsen is no stranger to generating headlines for chess rule breaks, having infamously once accused a rival of cheating using wireless vibrating anal beads.
This time it was the 34-year-old who thought his World Rapid Championships had ended on a bum note after being flagged for not wearing the correct attire.
Carlsen has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since July 2011 and his peak 2882 rating is the highest ever.
‘The Mozart of chess’ is also a reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion but had seemingly surrendered the chance to claim a sixth title following Friday's disqualification.
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Carlsen was fined $200 for wearing jeans before Chief Arbiter Alex Holowzsak disqualified him for not changing between rounds.
The Norwegian reacted by withdrawing from the World Blitz next week - where he is the reigning seven-time champion.
“I am pretty tired of FIDE, so I want no more of this. I don’t want anything to do with them. I am sorry to everyone at home, maybe it’s a stupid principle, but I don’t think it’s any fun,” said Carlsen to the Norwegian broadcasting channel NRK.
Carlsen, world champion between 2013 and 2023, claimed he had been forced to change quickly for a lunch meeting before the round.
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"I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like I didn't even think about jeans, even changed my shoes," He later told Take Take Take.
"I didn't even think about it... First of all, 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. They said that I could do it after the third round today.
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"I said 'I'll change tomorrow if that's OK, I didn't even realise it today', but they said, 'Well you have to change now.' At that point, it became a bit of a matter of principle for me."
The 34-year-old added that he would not appeal the decision, adding: "Honestly, I am too old at this point to care too much.
"If this is what they 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. I'll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here."
FIDE CEO Emil Sutovski previously claimed that Carlsen would have been allowed to continue had he changed his clothes in the allotted time.
"FIDE did not ban Magnus from the tournament. He was not paired in round 9. He can continue tomorrow," he wrote on X.
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"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.
"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.
"The dress-code was known way before, and it was suggested by Athletes Commission, consisting of grandmasters."
Now, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has backed down by relaxing its dress code to allow 'elegant minor deviations'.
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Those deviations "may, in particular, include appropriate jeans matching the jacket", the new rules state.
"I sincerely regret that this situation escalated without a resolution being found by both sides in time to prevent Magnus’s withdrawal", said Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE president in a statement.
"As far as the application of the rules during the World Blitz Championships is concerned, based on the consultations with our partners and their preferences, I took the decision to trial an approach to provide more flexibility to FIDE officials in judgements regarding the suitability of the attire.
"Special assistants will be requested to help in those judgements and make final conclusions, shall any doubts arise. The principle is simple: it is still required to follow the official dress-code, but elegant minor deviations (that may, in particular, include appropriate jeans matching the jacket) are allowed. In the end, it is New Year time, and I sincerely hope that nobody would try to undermine the festive mood, including by abusing this additional flexibility."
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Carlsen has since said he will return to the tournament on Monday - and will continue to wear jeans when he plays.
At the time of his default, he was a point and a half behind the leaders after eight of the 13 rounds.