No. 1 Chess Player Magnus Carlsen Quits Tournament; Refused to Change Out of Jeans
The top chess player in the world was disqualified from the World Rapid Championship in New York on Friday due to a dress code violation.
Per The Guardian's Leonard Barden, world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen refused to change out of jeans after receiving a previous warning. Along with his disqualification from the World Rapid Championships, Carlsen is withdrawing from the World Blitz, which begins on Monday.
In a statement regarding Carlsen's disqualification, FIDE said a dress code is "designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants."
"Today, Mr. Magnus Carlsen breached the dress code by wearing jeans, which are explicitly prohibited under long-standing regulations for this event," the statement said. "The Chief Arbiter informed Mr. Carlsen of the breach, issued a $200 fine, and requested that he change his attire. Unfortunately, Mr. Carlsen declined, and as a result, he was not paired for round nine. This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players."
The statement also said that another player, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined for breaking the dress code by wearing "sports shoes," though Nepomniachtchi changed shoes to avoid disqualification.
In a statement of his own, Carlsen said he told officials he would change out of jeans the following day and said he's "too old at this point to care too much."
"I said I'll change tomorrow," Calesen said, per Barden. "… but they said you have to change now it became a matter of principle for me so here we are! Honestly I'm too old at this point to care too much. If this is what they want to do I'll probably set off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer."
Carlsen, who won both the World Rapid and World Blitz championships last year, scored 5/8 on Friday and sat a point and a half behind the leaders when he was disqualified.
