Carlsen takes part in the chess championship again after the jeans dispute has been resolved

The world’s top chess player Magnus Carlsen has announced he will return to a major chess competition after the sport’s governing body agreed to relax his dress code.

Carlsen left the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York on Friday, where he was defending his title, when he was told he would not be allowed to continue playing in jeans.

The International Chess Federation (Fide) later said it would relax its dress code to allow for “elegant, minor variations” from its official list of acceptable attire.

The 34-year-old has since stated that he will return to competition on Monday and will continue to wear jeans while playing.

Carlsen, a five-time chess champion, was fined $200 (£159) last week for breaching the tournament’s dress code.

He said he wore jeans on a lunch break and “didn’t even think about” swapping them for a different pair of pants on the way to the tournament.

He had already played a few rounds in a shirt, blazer and jeans when he was informed that he had violated the dress code.

The grandmaster said he offered to change his pants for the next day but was told he had to change immediately, which he declined.

Carlsen then withdrew from the competition and said he was leaving town.

“No one wants to back out… I’ll probably go somewhere where the weather is a little nicer than here,” he said.

Announcing the changes to its dress code on Sunday, Fide President Arkadi Dvorkovitch said: “The principle is simple: it is still necessary to follow the official dress code, but allow for elegant minor deviations (which may include, in particular, matching jeans that… fit)“ jacket) are allowed.”

He said tournament staff needed to help assess whether the outfits met the relaxed code, adding that he hoped players would not “undermine the festive spirit” of the tournament on New Year’s Eve by wearing “these “abusing additional flexibility”.

In a social media post on Sunday, Carlsen said: “Oh, I’m definitely playing in jeans tomorrow.”

Fide previously said its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure fairness and professionalism for all participants.”

Carlsen is a well-known figure in chess who has caused some controversy in recent years.

The Norwegian became grandmaster – the highest title in chess – at the age of 13 and was long considered an outsider in the chess world.

In 2023, he settled a long-running legal dispute after accusing an American rival of fraud.

Carlsen made the accusation after he was unexpectedly beaten by 19-year-old chess prodigy Hans Niemann in a game in 2022.

Niemann denied the allegations and filed a $100m (£79m) defamation lawsuit against Carlsen, the website Chess.com and another US grandmaster.

Last August Chess.com said The lawsuit was settled out of courtand that Carlsen now accepted that Niemann had not cheated.