Magnus Carlsen Quits Chess Tournament Over Jeans Violation

This past Friday, Magnus Carlsen left his lunch meeting and headed to the second day of the World Rapid Chess Championship. He said he changed beforehand, putting on a blazer over a button-front shirt. He changed his shoes, too. Crucially, he didn’t change out of the jeans he was wearing.

Carlsen told the Chess YouTube show Take Take Take that he was in a rush to make it to the tournament. He got there in time, but his pants got him into trouble: Jeans are not allowed, per the International Chess Federation's dress code. FIDE said in a statement later that jeans are “explicitly prohibited under long-standing regulations for this event,” adding that the rules are “designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.”

It’s unclear exactly how the prohibition of jeans would preserve fairness within a chess match. Perhaps the fifth pocket could hide some sort of cheating device, or maybe there was some kind of wide-legged JNCOs incident in the 1990s. Most likely, it’s a rule left over from when jeans were considered casual or work wear, and not the almost-formal look they are sometimes viewed as in 2024. FIDE did say “these rules have been in place for years.”

Carlsen offered to change the following day, but FIDE said no. The organization also fined him $200. “At that point, it became, you know, a bit of a matter of principle for me,” Carlsen told Take Take Take. “So, here we are.” He decided to quit the tournament.

It's very funny that the five-time world chess champion walked away from an event, simply because the organizers would not let him wear jeans, but I suppose this is the kind of thing you might do if you are a five-time world chess champion. The 34-year-old even sounded like an athlete at the end of his career, talking about the incident like he was too grown-up for this shit.

“Honestly, I am too old at this point to care too much,” Carlsen said in his Take Take Take interview. “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 than here.” This is what spending the end of December in the Financial District does to a 34-year-old’s psyche.

FIDE has attempted to get the public on its side, mentioning that earlier in the day, Ian Nepomniachtchi was asked to change his “sports shoes” and complied. Its statement also claimed the tired, old 34-year-old really didn’t even have to go very far: “FIDE has also ensured that the players’ accommodation is within a short walking distance from the playing venue, making adherence to the rules more convenient.” Carlsen, who also forfeited his spot in the World Blitz Chess Championship, couldn't resist showing off his otherwise unremarkable outfit later that night:

In the end, Volodar Murzin won the men’s side of the rapid chess championship and Koneru Humpy took the women’s title. Neither wore jeans.