Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen returns to tournament after dispute over jeans is resolved
New York (AP): Top-ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is headed back to the World Blitz Championship on Monday after its governing body agreed to loosen a dress code that got him fined and denied a late-round game in another tournament for refusing to change out of jeans.
Lamenting the contretemps, International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement Sunday that he'd let World Blitz Championship tournament officials consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket, and other “elegant minor deviations” from the dress code.
He said Carlsen's stand — which culminated in his quitting the tournament Friday — highlighted a need for more discussion “to ensure that our rules and their application reflect the evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport.”
Carlsen, meanwhile, said in a video posted Sunday on social media that he would play — and wear jeans — in the World Blitz Championship when it begins Monday.
“I think the situation was badly mishandled on their side,” the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster said. But he added that he loves playing blitz — a fast-paced form of chess — and wanted fans to be able to watch, and that he was encouraged by his discussions with the federation after Friday's showdown.
“I think we sort of all want the same thing,” he suggested in the video on his Take Take Take chess app's YouTube channel. “We want the players to be comfortable, sure, but also relatively presentable.”
The events began when Carlsen wore jeans and a sportcoat Friday to the Rapid World Championship, which is separate from but held in conjunction with the blitz event. The chess federation said Friday that longstanding rules prohibit jeans at those tournaments, and players are lodged nearby to make sartorial switch-ups easy if needed.
An official fined Carlsen $200 and asked him to change pants, but he refused and wasn't paired for a ninth-round game, the federation said at the time. The organisation noted that another grandmaster, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined earlier in the day for wearing sports shoes, changed and continued to play.
Carlsen has said that he offered to wear something else the next day, but officials were unyielding. He said “it became a bit of a matter of principle,” so he quit the rapid and blitz championships.
In the video posted Sunday, he questioned whether he had indeed broken a rule and said changing clothes would have needlessly interrupted his concentration between games. He called the punishment “unbelievably harsh”.
“Of course, I could have changed. Obviously, I didn't want to,” he said, and “I stand by that”.
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Unnao rape: HC to pass order on plea by Kuldeep Sengar in death case of survivor's father
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Monday will pass an order on a plea by expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar seeking the suspension of his sentence in the case of the death of the Unnao rape survivor's father while in custody.
As notified by the high court, Justice Ravinder Dudeja will pronounce the verdict at 2.30 pm.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the trial court, besides imposition of a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the case of the death of the survivor's father in custody.
The trial court had said "no leniency" could be shown for killing a family's "sole bread earner".
It had also awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar's brother, Atul Singh Sengar, and five others for their role in the custodial killing of the rape survivor's father.
The father of the survivor was arrested at the behest of Sengar under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018, owing to police brutalities in custody.
Sengar had kidnapped the minor and raped her in 2017.
The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty of murder under the IPC in the father's case, awarded the maximum sentence for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to convicts under Section 304 of the IPC after holding that there was no intention to kill.
Sengar's appeals in the main rape case against the December 2019 judgement convicting him and sentencing him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life, as well as the father's case, are pending in the high court.
Sengar's sentence was suspended by the high court on December 23, 2025, till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case.
The suspension was stayed by the Supreme Court on December 29, 2025.
