Top-ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is widely regarded as the best chess player of all time. Carlsen has held the number-one position in the FIDE world chess rankings since July of 2011. Boasting a peak rating of 2882, Carlsen’s is the highest in history, and his time as the highest-rated player in the world is second only to the renowned grandmaster and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. For the latest generation of chess enthusiasts, Magnus Carlsen personifies perfection in the game; he is the face and the poster child for the modern game. He is, in the current renaissance of this centuries-old game, the Bobby Fischer of his time, bringing attention and publicity to a game otherwise overlooked and under-appreciated, especially among the youth.
What was once a scholar’s and older man’s game with the rare adolescent chess prodigy has, since the 2020 release of the TV series The Queen’s Gambit, evolved into an internet sensation through a sharp rise in online play, videos, and content. While this uptick in attention and popularity has improved the reach and influence of chess, the perception of the game itself has been influenced by the trends, the forms in which the game is commonly played, presented and talked about. It is up to subjective interpretation what exactly this means for the future of the game, whether this evolution is a positive one for the future of chess: whether the popularity of the game can be maintained, whether the game ought to adapt to the trends or keep its traditions, whether Fischer Random (Bobby Fischer’s preferred form of chess) or Carlsen’s own Fischer Random chess tournament (Freestyle Chess) will replace the game and the international body (FIDE) of old. As for the latter, recent developments involving Carlsen give us a clue.
Just this week, Carlsen, who (at 125 games) holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess, has left the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships after refusing to change out of the jeans he wore to the competition. According to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), Carlsen was made aware of the federation’s dress code and asked to change before continuing with the tournament, the dress code prohibiting participants from wearing jeans at the event. FIDE posted the following statement to its website on Friday, December 27, 2024:
“The Chief Arbiter informed Mr. Carlsen of the breach, issued a $200 fine, and requested that he change his attire.”
The statement continued:
“Unfortunately, Mr. Carlsen declined, and as a result, he was not paired for round nine. This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players.”
The 34-year-old Norwegian chess grandmaster said that he accepted a $200 fine, but he refused to change his pants before quitting the competition in New York; this statement coming from a video from his Take Take Take chess app that he posted on the social platform X:
“I said, ‘I’ll change tomorrow if that’s OK," Carlsen said in the video. "But they said, ‘Well, you have to change now.’ At that point it became a bit of a matter of principle for me.”
The federation said in its statement that the dress code is “designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.”
Though rather petty in comparison to more serious events and real crises around the globe, this “matter of principle” has become symbolic of quite a serious trend in the modern West, seeping into the cultures and collective conscience of most of the world under the influence of Western media. For another high-profile example of this particular discussion “of principle”, look no further than the casual attire of (and flouting of conventions by) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his 2022 speech to the United States Congress — even subsequent meetings with President Biden, President Trump, and other representatives of the United States. Over this period of time (since 2022), the United States has committed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
As for FIDE’s World Rapid and Blitz Championships, the total prize fund is roughly $1.5 million.
In each case, the demand (or expectation) of proper etiquette in the form of appropriate formal attire is hardly asking much of the individuals seeking so much more in return. The matter of the dress code, itself a “principle”, is one corresponding with the seriousness of the events governed: in the case of politics, the seriousness of taxpayers’ expenditures; for chess, the seriousness of championship titles, the history of the game, and the investments of the tournaments’ sponsors; each relying on the maintenance of standards (of some kind) through the governing body.
Simply put, the dress code is in place to dignify the tournament and to establish standards of etiquette for the game, to represent the game, the tournament, and its sponsors in a positive light; to capture the formality and romanticism around a game of such rich history and heritage; to limit unnecessary distractions from the field of play, and to show respect to the sponsors and the spectators of this great game (just as a politician dressed properly shows his respect for the people of a country) — a small gesture, to be sure, but a meaningful one, requiring minimal effort considering the seriousness of the occasion, the combined efforts of those sponsoring and spectating (and still others represented).
When done properly, chess is a game for ladies and gentlemen, and that naturally comes with standards, which must be established somewhere at some level to prevent the game from devolving into something else entirely. As with any free person anywhere, Magnus is free to challenge this code, just as the organization is free to penalize him for violations. It is really nothing more, nothing less; in this sense a mere clash of “principles”, one being announced formally and ahead of time, with the one party, the players in this case, being previously made aware of the tournament’s regulations, the other “principle” being publicized after already violating the established principle accepted ahead of time as a condition of participating. Anything beyond this is editorializing, sensationalizing, or some kind of agenda born out of ego, naiveté, boredom, or some ulterior motive or personal business interest. It is as simple as that.
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