SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Will Bolton
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has quit a major tournament after being told he could not carry on playing while wearing jeans.
The 34-year-old was defending his titles at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York when officials informed him of the dress code breach.
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in 2022.
He claimed he offered to change into different trousers for the next day, but was told he needed to remove them immediately.
Carlsen said he then decided to quit the tournament “as a matter of principle”.
FIDE, the chess federation, said its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure fairness and professionalism for all participants”. The organisation said it issued the grandmaster a $200 (£159) fine for the breach.
Carlsen, who was world champion between 2013 and 2023, was embroiled in a row last year after accusing an American rival of using a vibrating sex toy to cheat.
Explaining why he was wearing jeans at the tournament in New York, he said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly.
“I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like I didn’t even think about jeans, even changed my shoes,” Carlsen told the chess news website Take Take Take.
“I didn’t even think about it … first of all, I got a fine, which is fine, and then I got a warning that I would not be paired if I didn’t go change my clothes. They said that I could do it after the third round today.
“I said: ‘I’ll change tomorrow if that’s OK, I didn’t even realise it today’, but they said: ‘Well you have to change now.’ At that point, it became a bit of a matter of principle for me.”
Carlsen said he would not appeal the decision, adding: “Honestly, I am too old at this point to care too much, if this is what they want to do.
“I guess it goes both ways, right – nobody wants to back down – and this is where we are.
“It’s fine by me. I’ll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer.”
Carlsen is a five-time world chess champion and retains the top ranking in the sport. The Norwegian became grandmaster – the top title in chess – at the age of 13.
In a now-settled dispute with opponent Hans Niemann, Carlsen quit a tournament in 2022 after Niemann beat him, before going on to accuse his American rival of cheating by using anal beads.
Niemann categorically denied allegations that he used a vibrating sex toy to receive outside instructions and even said he would “strip fully naked” to prove his innocence.
The pair went on to settle a $100 million (£79 million) lawsuit in August last year.
