Top-ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is returning to the World Blitz Championship on Monday after its governing body agreed to loosen a dress code for which he was fined and expelled from the final round at another tournament. The game was refused. refuse to change jeans,
Lamenting the contradictions, International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement on Sunday that he would urge World Blitz Championship tournament officials to allow “appropriate jeans” with jackets and other “elegant minor deviations” from the dress code. Will consider.
He said Carlsen's stance – which culminated in his quitting the tournament on Friday – highlighted the need for more discussion “to ensure that our rules and their application support the development of chess as a global and accessible game.” Reflect nature.”
Meanwhile, Carlsen said in a video posted on social media on Sunday that he will play and wear jeans in the World Blitz Championship starting on Monday.
“I think the situation was handled badly on their part,” said the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster. But he said he loves playing blitz – a fast-paced form of chess – and he wanted fans to be able to watch it, and he was encouraged by his discussion with the federation after Friday's performance.
“I think we all want the same thing,” he suggested in a video on the YouTube channel of his Tech Tech Chess app. “We want players to be comfortable, sure, but also relatively attractive.”
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The event began when Carlsen wore jeans and a sportcoat on Friday at the Rapid World Championships, which is separate from the blitz event but held in conjunction with it. The Chess Federation said Friday that long-standing rules prohibit the wearing of jeans at those tournaments and that players are kept close by to make it easier to change clothes if needed.
The federation said at the time that an official fined Carlson $200 and asked him to change pants, but he refused and he was not added for the ninth-round game. The organization noted that another grandmaster, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined earlier in the day for wearing sports shoes, changing shoes and continuing to play.
Carlson said he offered to wear something else the next day, but the officers remained adamant. “It became a bit of a matter of principle,” he said, so he left the rapid and blitz championships.
In the video posted on Sunday, he questioned whether he had actually broken a rule and said that changing clothes would unnecessarily interfere with his concentration between games. He described the sentence as “incredibly harsh”.
“Of course, I could have changed. Obviously, I didn't want to,” he said, and “I stand by that.”