FIDE changes dress code to allow ‘appropriate’ jeans after Magnus Carlsen incident last year

Recap: What was the Magnus Carlsen jeans controversy?

This change from FIDE comes after Carlsen had quit the FIDE World Rapid Championship in December last year mid-way after being fined by FIDE for sporting jeans at the prestigious event. Back then, Carlsen was offered an option by FIDE of changing his attire and continue playing on. But the Norwegian opted to quit the tournament instead , calling it a “matter of principle”.

Magnus Carlsen exited the World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 midway after being told he had violated the FIDE dress code for the event and being asked to change. (FIDE)

Eventually, Carlsen had found common ground with FIDE and had played in the FIDE World Blitz Championship, which he jointly won with Ian Nepomniachtchi. The five-time world champion had also sold the jeans in an auction for a whopping Rs 31 lakh ($36,100) after getting 94 bids on eBay in an online auction.

Regarding Magnus playing in jeans, there is not a single person who won’t watch because Magnus is playing in jeans! Or in his underwear or Speedos!

It must be noted that Carlsen is unlikely to play in the Grand Swiss event, which will be played from September 3 to 16 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).

What are the new dress code regulations for Grand Swiss?

FIDE announced new dress code regulations for the FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss tournaments which allows “appropriate jeans”. (PHOTO: FIDE)

Here’s what the new dress code guidelines for the Grand Swiss tournament state:

What’s permitted for men:

• Suit
• Dark business casual trousers, including classic, non-distressed jeans (blue, black, and grey)
• Unicoloured shirt (with minor deviations allowed, e.g. checkered or stripe
• Dress shoes and loafers with closed toes
• Unicoloured sneakers (soles can be a different colour)

What’s permitted for women:

• Skirt suit, pantsuit, dress suit
• Dress
• Dark business casual trousers, including classic, non-distressed jeans (dark blue, black and grey)
• Shirt/blouse
• Dress shoes and loafers with closed toes
• Unicoloured sneakers (soles can be a different colour)
• What has FIDE president said about the new dress code rules?

What has FIDE president said about the new dress code rules?

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, while talking about the updated dress code regulation, said: “FIDE took the decision to provide more flexibility in the dress code. It is still required to follow the official standards, but elegant, appropriate jeans are also allowed. FIDE, chess players, arbiters, and officials must collectively strive to preserve the integrity of chess while also ensuring that the sport remains appealing to the audience and sponsors.”

FIDE took the decision to provide more flexibility in the dress code.

What is the FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss event?

The FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss event is one of the strongest chess tournaments in the classical format. While Carlsen will not be competing, the event will see players like world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann play in the open section. India’s Divya Deshmukh, who recently won the FIDE Women’s World Cup, will also be in action in the open section rather than in the women’s event. In fact, there will be 15 Indians competing in the open section among the 116 players in the fray.

In the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss event, players like Tan Zhongyi, Anna Muzychuk, Lei Tingjie competing while India will be represented by the likes of Humpy Koneru, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Harika Dronavalli and Vantika Agrawal.

Both the events offer players a direct spot in the Candidates and the Women’s Candidates tournaments. Last time, Vaishali had qualified for the Women’s Candidates through the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss event.

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What had Carlsen said about his decision to quit over jeans?

While explaining his decision to quit the FIDE World Rapid Championship event rather than play on, Carlsen had told Norwegian channel NRK: “I am pretty tired of FIDE, so I want no more of this. I don’t want anything to do with them. I am sorry to everyone at home, maybe it’s a stupid principle, but I don’t think it’s any fun.”

“At that point it became a bit of a matter of principle for me,” Carlsen later explained. “Honestly, my patience with them was not very big to begin with. And it’s okay. They can enforce their rules. That’s fine by me. And my response is that fine, then I’m out. Like, f** you. I don’t think anything more has to be said.”

What had other top grandmasters said about the jeans controversy?

Top players like Hikaru Nakamura had criticised FIDE’s high-handed approach with the Carlsen jeans controversy last year.

“This thing about dress code, the sooner that chess moves into the 21st century and we don’t try to portray this fake image of these great geniuses who never say bad things, keep emotions aside, and are gentlemen like it’s the 1600! The sooner we get past this nonsense the better chess is going to be. It’s an antiquated view. It’s out of place. The notion of fining people, it’s really comical to me that FIDE tries to enforce this dress code,” Nakamura had said on his YouTube channel.

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“Regarding Magnus playing in jeans, there is not a single person who won’t watch because Magnus is playing in jeans! Or in his underwear or Speedos! I don’t think there is a single person in the world who cares about these things at all. He’s the best player in the world, and that’s what they want to see. The whole thing is insane,” added Nakamura. “People are here to watch chess. They’re not here to follow this nonsense. It’s really a tragedy that we’re dealing with this. This could have easily been avoided if FIDE wasn’t so insane, for the lack of a better way of putting it.”