Top ranked Chess player Magnus Carlsen has left the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships after refusing to take off the jeans he wore to the competition, the International Chess Federation said.
The association said in a statement Friday that its regulations include a dress code that prohibits participants from wearing jeans at the event.
“The head referee informed Mr. Carlsen of the violation, imposed a fine of $200 and ordered him to change his clothing,” the association said in a statement posted on its website. “Unfortunately, Mr. Carlsen declined and was therefore not nominated for the ninth round. This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players.”
The 34-year-old Norwegian chess grandmaster said in a video on his chess app Take Take Take that he posted on social platform X that he accepted a $200 fine. But he refused to change his pants before leaving the competition in New York.
“I said, ‘I’ll switch tomorrow if that’s okay,” Carlsen said in the video. “But they said, ‘Well, you have to change now.’ From that point on it became something of a matter of principle for me.”
The association said in its statement that the dress code “is designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.”
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His fellow participant Ian Nepomniachtchi was also fined on Friday because he violated the dress code by wearing sports shoes.
“However, Mr. Nepomniachtchi obeyed, put on the approved clothing and continued playing in the tournament,” the statement said. “These rules have been in effect for years, are known to all participants and are communicated to them before each event.”
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