“Magnus Carlsen had enough time to change his jeans. We didn’t ban it; could have played’: FIDE CEO

FIDE CEO Emil Sutovski said Magnus Carlsen was not banned from the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York for violating the tournament’s dress code. The defending champion wore jeans in the first rounds of the Rapid tournament, which was “expressly forbidden” according to the tournament regulations. Sutovski said FIDE respects Carlsen and gives him the opportunity and time to dress in formal clothing. And when Carlsen did not agree to this on the same day, chief referee Alex Holowczak had no choice but to remove him from the pairing in round 9 and subsequently disqualify him.

Sutovski said Carlsen would have been allowed to continue playing if he had changed in the time allotted to him, but because he himself decided that it was against his principles, he withdrew.

“FIDE did not exclude Magnus from the tournament. He had no pair in Round 9 The rules apply to all participants and it would be unfair to all players who respected the dress code and those who were previously fined. The dress code had been known for a long time and was proposed by the Athletes Commission by Grandmaster,” he wrote on X.

Sutovski added that FIDE had great respect for Marnus and his family, but it was not possible for them to violate the rules. and we never wanted it to explode. However, I fully support the decision of head referee Alex Holowczak,” he added.

Previously, Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi was penalized for a similar violation, but he complied by changing his clothing so he could take part in the event.

“Tired of FIDE’s dress code”: Carlsen

Meanwhile, Carlsen was “upset” by the turn of events and said he would not be taking part in the blitz section of the championship as he was “pretty fed up” with FIDE’s dress code guidelines.

“I’m pretty sick of FIDE, so I don’t want any more of it. I don’t want anything to do with them. I’m sorry to everyone at home, maybe it’s a stupid principle, but I don’t think it’s fun,” Carlsen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

“I said I don’t want to bother changing now, but I can change by tomorrow, that’s fine. But they didn’t want to compromise. I got to the point where I’m pretty upset with FIDE, so I didn’t do it. “I don’t want it either. Then that’s it,” he added.