The chess fraternity is used to its fair share of drama and entertainment. Top grandmasters publicly accusing each other of cheating without any evidence has become a common norm. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen added another dimension to it. The Norwegian was kicked out of the ongoing World Rapid and Blitz Championships for wearing jeans, which violated FIDE’s dress code.

First, Carlsen was fined 200 dollars, and then was asked to change to formals immediately, which he refused. He revealed that he had agreed to dress formally from Saturday onwards, but couldn’t do it immediately. Carlsen was not paired for Round 9, and FIDE then disqualified him, explaining that rules apply to all players.

Since then, the FIDE chief has also taken to X and told fans that Carlsen hasn’t been banned from the tournament, and can re-join the action the next day.

Indirect dig thrown at an American grandmaster?

Reacting to the incident, outspoken chess legend and reigning world champion D Gukesh’s former teacher Vladimir Kramnik took an indirect dig at another grandmaster and predicted that another fiasco would happen in New York. “Something is telling me the second act will happen. Time for another player to appear on stage?,” he wrote.

The grandmaster in question is American Hikaru Nakamura. Kramnik and the 37-year-old have a history between them. The popcorn emoji used in the tweet also gave it away as Nakamura is a famous Twitch streamer. Kramnik has accused the current World No. 3 of cheating on multiple occasions, and has even backed it up with his own evidence. Nakamura is also a close ally and friend of Carlsen, and is a key cog in the Freestyle Chess Players Club, which recently received official recognition from FIDE.

When the agreement was announced, Kramnik had taken to X to accuse Carlsen and Nakamura of blackmailing FIDE into accepting, otherwise they would skip the year-ending Rapid and Blitz C’ship.

Kramnik is also a former teacher of Gukesh. The former world champion coached 14 young Indian chess players, which included Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, at a 10-day camp in Chennai in 2020.