Magnus Carlsen’s jeans put the spotlight on chess’s sartorial intransigence but it is not the only sport struggling to adapt
Wallace and Gromit is a festive TV staple in many a household – but it wasn’t their wrong trousers that scooped the post-Christmas headlines. That honour belonged to Magnus Carlsen, disqualified from a chess tournament in New York for wearing jeans.
The world No 1 – who also happens to be the only current chess player most people can name – had balked when he was told to change his attire ahead of his third-round match at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships. Walking out of the event, Carlsen shrugged that he would “probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer”. Instead, he returned three days later after governing body Fide had agreed a more “flexible approach” to its dress code.
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