Bengaluru: Two days after he announced his withdrawal midway through the World Rapid and Blitz tournament, world No.1 Magnus Carlsen confirmed that he will play the blitz event after a truce with world body, Fide. Fined and unpaired in Round 9 by Fide for wearing jeans to the playing area on the second day of the rapid event, Carlsen had declared that he would not be playing the remainder of the tournament and had termed it as a feeling of “all-out war” with the governing body.
Following talks with Fide president Arkady Dvorkovich on Sunday, the tournament rest day, Carlsen said that he would play the blitz event and as a “matter of principle, I’m definitely playing in jeans.” As part of its bending over backwards to appease Carlsen, Fide has eased the dress code rules, allowing “appropriate jeans matching the jacket”.
“I’m playing at least one more day in New York and if I do well, another day as well,” Carlsen told Take Take Take. “I love playing blitz and I want to give fans an opportunity to see. I don’t know if it’s going to be the last time…who knows. But for now, I’m here. There have been some slight alterations to the rules, and as a matter of principle I’m definitely playing in jeans tomorrow.”
In a statement on Monday, Fide president Arkady Dvorkovich said that he regretted the “escalation of the situation without a resolution being found by both sides in time to prevent Magnus’s withdrawal”.
Based on consultations with partners and their preferences, Dvorkovich said that he has taken the decision “to trial an approach to provide more flexibility to Fide officials in judgements regarding the suitability of the attire. Special assistants will be requested to help in those judgements and make final conclusions, shall any doubts arise. The principle is simple: it is still required to follow the official dress code, but elegant minor deviations (that may, in particular, include appropriate jeans matching the jacket) are allowed.”
Carlsen said that he could change out of his jeans after being fined, but didn’t want to – “I didn’t agree with it and didn’t want to comply and I stand by that.” He took jabs at Fide CEO Emil Sutovsky and deputy president Viswanathan Anand, terming the latter “not ready for the job”.
“It has to be about the intent of the rule, not the letter of the law, that’s how any reasonable body should be. I did have some choice words for Fide a few days ago and I would say that they were a bit imprecise. I definitely mean it when it comes to certain people in Fide. The situation was badly handled. I was about to book my plane tickets and get out of here. My father said we should wait till morning to speak to Fide president Dvorkovich with whom we have a good relationship. Him being asleep when this went down meant that there were no grown-ups in Fide. There was nobody even willing to have a conversation. It seemed a narrow interpretation of a rule and it was draconian to not pair me.”
Agreeing that it was a question of power that led to his demand eventually being met which wouldn’t have perhaps been the case for any other player, the Norwegian former world champion said now there will be “some room for arbiters to use common sense”. “I think we all kind of want the same thing – we all want to be comfortable while also being presentable. So, myself, other players and Fide are generally not in disagreement,” he said.
“I’m glad that we’ve managed to have some sort of change in this case instead of the completely robotic warning. I think there’s some room for interpreting the rules. When I started playing top tournaments, things were better. Arbiters were trying to find solutions rather than trying to strictly follow the letter of the law. The chief arbiter here didn’t seem qualified for the job. It’s good that the powers will now not rest only with the arbiter.”
There’s also the issue of freestyle chess which Carlsen is invested in heavily after stepping away from the classical world championship cycle two years ago.
The Carlsen-backed freestyle chess format, bankrolled by German entrepreneur Jan Buettner, has ambitions of being run as a world championship — a nomenclature Fide has believed to be its sole preserve.
“I just believe that at the top level, freestyle is more exciting and playable,” said Carlsen. “I understand that Fide wants to do their own thing and for them and players and the fans, the classical world championship is a big deal and we don’t want to stop anybody. I don’t think Fide should stop us from organising a freestyle world championship when effectively there is none at least with a longer time control.”
