Five-time world champion and Indian legend Viswanathan Anand spoke on Magnus Carlsen's disqualification from the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship. Carlsen was disqualified from the tournament for wearing jeans, which are "explicitly prohibited" under tournament regulations.
When he refused to change his attire after the eighth round, Carlsen was disqualified and was not paired for round 9 of the Rapid championship. Anand has said that the International Chess Federation (FIDE) didn't wanted to disqualify Carlsen but the Norwegian left them with no choice other than taking the step.
"He simply refused to follow the rules, left us with little choice. Today this decision seemed emotional. Magnus was not willing to compromise," Anand, who is the deputy president of the global governing body, told Chessbase India.
"Obviously, it was not a step we wanted to take. We offered several options (to Magnus). The arbiter said that as long as Magnus changed his jeans before the ninth round, it would be fine.
"But Magnus said that he was not going to do it on principle. He himself stated that it's a matter of principle for him. The arbiter simply applied the rules, and we supported that," he added.
Anand said that every player followed the rules and, citing that Ian Nepomniachtchi was also asked to change. "He stated that they were not going to concede. So I left," Anand said. "Every other player is following the rules. Ian Nepomniachtchi was asked to change, and he did. That is why he was able to continue. The fact that Magnus simply refused to follow it left us with little choice," he added.
Meanwhile, Carlsen had opened up on his disqualification too. "I had a good sleep, I had a nice lunch, but I barely had time to go to my room and change my clothes. I did not even change my shoes, honestly I did not even think about the jeans," Carlsen said in an interview with Take Take Take.
"At that point, it became a matter of principle for me. Honestly, I'm too old to care too much about this. It became a situation where both don't want to back down, and that's fine by me. I'll head somewhere where the weather is nicer," he added.