The chess master returns to play after resolving the dispute over jeans – Watani

Top rank chess player Magnus Carlsen Returns to World Blitz Championship On Monday after its governing body agreed to relax the dress code that led to him being fined and banned from playing in the final round of another tournament for refusing to change out of his jeans.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich expressed regret over the unfortunate events and said in a statement on Sunday that he would allow World Blitz Championship officials to consider allowing “fitting jeans” with a jacket, and other “simple, elegant deviations” from the dress code.

Carlsen’s position said – Which led to his retirement from the tournament on Friday – Highlighted the need for further discussion “to ensure that our rules and their enforcement reflect the evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport.”

Meanwhile, Carlsen said in a video posted Sunday on social media that he will play – and wear jeans – in the World Blitz Championship when it starts on Monday.

“I think the situation was handled very poorly on their part,” the 34-year-old Norwegian teacher said. But he added that he loves blitz play – a fast-paced form of chess – and wants fans to be able to watch, and that he was encouraged by his discussions with the federation after Friday’s clash.

Get daily national news

Get the day’s top political, economic and current affairs news, headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“I think we all kind of want the same thing,” he suggests in a video on the chess app Take Take’s YouTube channel. “We want players to be comfortable, confident, but also relatively presentable.”

1:59
Magnus Carlsen chess scandal: Did a master use a sex game to cheat?

The events began when Carlsen donned jeans and a sports coat on Friday to attend the World Blitz Championship, which is separate from but held in conjunction with the Blitz event. The Chess Federation said on Friday that long-standing rules prohibit the wearing of jeans in those tournaments, and players are housed nearby to facilitate changing clothes if necessary.

The federation said at the time that an official imposed a $200 fine on Carlsen and asked him to change his pants, but he refused and did not participate in the ninth round match. The organization noted that another senior professor, Ian Nepomniatchi, was fined earlier in the day for wearing sneakers, so he changed them and continued playing.

Carlsen said he offered to wear something else the next day, but officials would not give in. “It became a bit of a matter of principle,” he said, so he left the speed and blitz tournaments.

In the video posted on Sunday, he questioned whether he had actually broken a rule and said changing clothes would have unnecessarily interrupted his concentration between matches. He described the punishment as “incredibly harsh.”

“Of course, I could have changed. Obviously I didn’t want to, and I support that.”

& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press