World chess number one Magnus Carlsen quit the World Rapid Chess Championship after he refused to change out of the jeans he was wearing for the tournament.
Carlsen, a five-time World Chess Champion, said he had worn jeans for a lunch meeting and ‘didn’t even think about’ changing for a different pair of trousers before heading to the event.
The 34-year-old was wearing a collared shirt, blazer, dark jeans and black shoes when he was asked to change his trousers by a tournament official.
The chess federation (FIDE) has said in a statement that Carlsen broke the tournament’s dress code by wearing jeans and was fined $200 (£159).
‘This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players,’ FIDE said.
Carlsen, who has been a chess grandmaster since the age of 13, refused to change and subsequently pulled out of the tournament.
Speaking to chess channel Take Take Take, Carlsen said the argument over his attire for the tournament ‘became a matter of principle’.
‘I haven’t appealed, honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much, if this is what they want to do… nobody wants to back down, if this is where we are, that’s fine by me,’ Carlsen said.
‘I’ll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here and that’s it.
‘I got here and I don’t know if it was after the first game or the second game, 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 I could do it after the third round today. I said I’ll change tomorrow, if that’s ok, I didn’t even realise today. But they said you have to change now.’
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