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Magnus Carlsen has been disqualified from the World Rapid Championship in New York due to a dress code violation – also withdrawing from the World Blitz
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- Title
- Chess: Carlsen targets Rapid and Blitz gold on Wall Street this weekend
- Authors
- Leonard Barden
- Published
- Dec 27 2024
- Word count
- 979 words
Imagine caring if a player has jeans on or not.
It seems silly, but tournaments have rules for a reason. You can't really pick and choose what rules you want to enforce, and you especially can't be seen to be giving favoritism to someone just because they're the world champion. That's a great way to get some upset people.
I think the dress code rule is pretty outdated and should be removed, but Magnus definitely shouldn't have thrown a fit and quit when they asked him to change.
The fastest way to get rules to be changed is to make a big stink about them and be obnoxious. I am absolutely on his side here.
I have no idea how you came to this conclusion, but as someone who has been in a position where I had to enforce stupid rules before; I can guarantee you that this will backfire far more often than it won't. Being a Karen about things because you don't like them will not be motivating anyone to go to bat for you anytime soon.
And this is also implying he's taking some sort of moral stance against the dress code rule and is intentionally making a stand against injustice; when in reality he simply had a bad day and couldn't be assed to get dressed up to go to work. Its not really deeper than that.
The discussion wouldn't even be happening about the dress code if nobody made a stink about it. Changing dress codes, specifically, by being obnoxious and following the rules to the letter (example, people identifying as men wearing dresses to work to protest formal dress rules) is a relatively normal occurance and has a track record of working quickly.
You don't have to have a moral stance against a rule to think that a rule is not worth dealing with and opting out.
He is in a unique position to not need anyone to go to bat for him. As a more general rule, you don't need anyone to go to bat for you if your leaving causes more disruptions than changing the rule that is causing you to leave. Changing dress codes is not hard because it isn't a legal compliance thing or a safety thing, just a "we don't want those people" thing.
If that's the avenue this takes, then sure it'll be a win for the small group of people who attend these tournaments I guess.
But the way to make the protest is not to wait until you are doing poorly in a tournament following the dress code and then break the dress code for the next days rounds so you have an excuse to drop out.
It's not him taking a heroic stand against tyrannical rules, it's just another petty move to cause more drama with FIDE (who he has historically had a very antagonistic relationship with) and avoid further losses in the tournament. It is pretty obvious when you watch this clip from his exit interview
He can be both obnoxious, and in the right, at the same time.
That's implying there's something to be "right" about in the first place... It's not a argument or a court case. He broke the rules as a way to way to get out of playing the rest of the tournament because he was unhappy with his performance in said tournament. At best it's extremely disrespectful to the other people in the tournament because now the competitive integrity is jeopardized.
Maybe he doesn't need to be there because he's already proven himself to be the best, but hes robbing his competitors the opportunity to face and maybe even beat a world champion. That's not just obnoxious that's pretty pathetic and against the idea of competing in the first place. I don't think he should be celebrated for suddenly just now "being right" by breaking the dress code rules for tournaments that he has been playing in for years just when it happens to be convenient for him as a way to save face.
If you want to drop out because you aren't feeling it, you're off your game, you're sick or otherwise can't play. That's fine, it happens, and everyone would understand. But don't parade around a bullshit "I didn't like the dress code rule so I left" excuse so you can get forced out instead of forfeiting graciously.
Now this is an example of being both obnoxious and right. (Sorry I couldn't help myself)
I haven't followed this super closely but from what I've read Magnus asked if he could change his pants after that day's matches, which I believe is what the FIDE rules say (players breaking the dress code can still play the current round).
It was only after they told him to change immediately or be disqualified that he said fuck this.
If I'm FIDE and Carlsen offers a compromise that is within the rules, or even close enough, I think I accept the compromise. And then after the event, change the rules and take the PR win. This definitely hurts them more than it helps them.
Instead the image/interview of the other player being let in wearing chinos designed to look exactly like distressed jeans goes viral and FIDE look like assholes. 2/2 cotton twill vs 2/1 cotton twill. Fuck off indeed!
It's a bit of a he said/she said situation but according to accounts from the FIDE situation he was given multiple warnings and plenty of time to go back to his hotel and change (which was only 3 minutes away) and refused "on principle" this was between games and not during his current game meaning he wouldn't be interrupted.
I'll copy what I said in another reply because I think it's relevant to this conversation as well.
(Note: for context this is not even the first time Magnus has willfully broken dress code rules in the same TOURNAMENT here he is in 2022 showing up late wearing pajama pants to a game. He has a history of flaunting the rules and disrespecting his opponents and tournament organizers alike. It wouldn't be the first time he threw a tantrum when things didn't go his way)
He broke the rules as a way to way to get out of playing the rest of the tournament because he was unhappy with his performance in said tournament. At best it's extremely disrespectful to the other people in the tournament because now the competitive integrity is jeopardized.
Maybe he doesn't need to be there because he's already proven himself to be the best, but hes robbing his competitors the opportunity to face and maybe even beat a world champion. That's not just obnoxious that's pretty pathetic and against the idea of competing in the first place. I don't think he should be celebrated for suddenly just now "being right" by breaking the dress code rules for tournaments that he has been playing in for years just when it happens to be convenient for him as a way to save face.
If you want to drop out because you aren't feeling it, you're off your game, you're sick or otherwise can't play. That's fine, it happens, and everyone would understand. But don't parade around a bullshit "I didn't like the dress code rule so I left" excuse so you can get forced out instead of forfeiting graciously.
The tournament only has rules about decorum, it's not like jeans are explicitly banned, nor was Magnus the only player that was wearing jeans, he was specifically targeted because FIDE has obvious beef with him, but FIDE is a horrible organization and consistently has terrible, and often misogynistic ""enforcement "" of dress codes. This is pretty indefensible when he was still wearing dress shoes and a suit jacket, it's not like he looked unprofessional, for an event where the cameras only show the players top halves even, and they fined Ian for having idk, a too ostentatious jacket? You shouldn't be defending FIDE here
Except they were. This is the document sent to all players in their tournament. Warning PDF file, it will attempt to download if you don't want to download it, you can just take my word that it says explicitly calls out jeans as not being approved.
I'm not "defending FIDE" here, I'm just refusing to defend Magnus for breaking a clearly defined set of rules and then getting upset about being called out for it and refusing to go change when he was reportedly given plenty of time to do so. I mean for God sakes it's a chess tournament, do you think they're not going to be obsessed with following the rules? That's like the whole point of the game.
Saying it's "generally not business attire" feels a bit loose, even if it's more clear than I initially suspected, so I'll accept that I didn't know the dress code was explicitly published like that. Either way, other players were wearing jeans, as images show, without being fined, and you have to accept that FIDE doesn't have a great track record with dress code enforcement. Personally, it feels vindictive, but maybe you're right that it's more justified than it seems, that said, I think it's an own goal by FIDE, and maybe we'll look back on this as being a turning point if a new organization comes up. I think if their enforcement was uniform and Magnus wasn't targeted than sure, it's on him.
There's a big red box over jeans saying "Not Approved", so I'm not sure how much clearer you can be. I don't know much about the other players wearing jeans, I know some of them weren't actually playing, just being in attendance and they changed between rounds, but I wouldn't be surprised if Magnus got picked on specifically because of his previous antagonistic relationship with FIDE (and the fact that he's heavily affiliated with Chess.com who are competitors to FIDE.) That being said, I think the narrative got so heavily skewed by the media in the direction of "Magnus was banned from the tournament because he was wearing jeans" when the reality of the situation is much closer to "Magnus didn't feel like changing his pants when asked so he dropped out of tournament rather than spending 15 minutes to do so."
This definitely feels like a situation where both sides were being shitty to each other, and I was frustrated by the way that was being changed to "Magnus is taking a righteous stand against a tyrannical dress code rule and sticking it to the man!"
I wear shorts to work, in a corporate office for a multibillion dollar company. I was once told by a manager I was overdressing when I wore something more "business casual." Last I checked, chess wasn't a hazardous occupation that requires protective gear, so any dress requirement is wholly unreasonable.
I don't think anyone is arguing that the rule makes sense, I even said in my original comment that it is outdated and should be removed, but it hasn't yet and if you're going to choose to go to a tournament, you are choosing to abide by the rules in place. You don't really get to pick and choose what rules you think make sense and what don't. FIDE is probably not "in the right" here so to speak, but Magnus is almost certainly "in the wrong." It was a battle of egos on both sides.
This whole problem is especially compounded by the fact that he only chose to resign by of the dress code rule because he was doing so poorly in the tournament already. If he was having a good set of games I highly doubt he would have just thrown it away because of something like this. All it resulted in was his opponents wasting their time and not getting a chance to play against a world champion chess player.
Sometimes the tantrum wins, especially if you're incredibly privileged. I maintain that this was nothing more than a power play between two annoying groups of people.
I find it funny that this is viewed as a "win" by some people though when the only rule that got changed was that sometimes jeans are allowed now, the dress code is still pretty ridiculous and the fines/punishments are still exorbitant.
There was only one addendum to the dress code and it was just: "allowing for appropriate jeans matching the jacket" which is still subject to the same whims of the tournament organizers who enforce it. They still get to decide what "appropriate jeans" are and if they "match the jacket." This is the kind of thing you do when you want to pretend like you're conceding ground to make people feel like they won something, but in reality not much changes.
Magnus is going to get to act the hero and play in his jeans today but the dress code is still going to be obnoxious and unfairly enforced, the fines are still ridiculous, and the president of FIDE is still going to have a chip on his shoulder. But hey, its a big win for jean enjoyers everywhere (as long as they can afford the insane cost to enter an exclusive chess tournament.)
I don't know much about the world of chess, and obviously this guy is incredibly skilled; but everything I've heard about him kinda paints him as childish and petulant. This is one of many stories I've read about him behaving poorly.
Wearing chinos made to look exactly like washed out jeans is perfectly ok though
https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1hnrp3h/these_are_trousers/?share_id=q7mf-J7AxqKZaz1BV2UwU&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=nottheonion&utm_source=reddit&utm_term=1
Man I worked at a no jeans place. Had almost the exact same experience in reverse. Black or dark wash jeans slipped under the radar as "dress pants", but as soon as you hit anything too close to blue/light wash you were getting a talking to.
Hoodies and thermals were totally ok though. Dress codes hardly ever make any sense.
I worked at an AT&T call centre almost 20 years ago and they had a very strict "No white shoes" policy in their dress code. The reason being another call centre in Los Angeles had a problem where white shoes were identified as a gang sign. There are certainly no white shoe gangs in BC, Canada.
Mind you they also had a "no phone lists on cubicle walls" rule, in a call centre, where we routinely needed to transfer people to dozens of different numbers. Clearly management really just got off on enforcing arbitrary and pointless rules. So there's that.
Honestly I don't know why there was a dress code in a call centre to begin with.
Some yrs ago, I worked at one of the US Federal Reserve Banks. I worked in the IT helpdesk, which was primarily phone-based. But no one ever visited us in-person for support. They weren't allowed to (there was a different department for end user hardware issues).
Yet our dress code was business casual, no jeans. What was really annoying was that like a third of our team was located at another Fed branch, for BCDR reasons. They were allowed casual wear. During teleconference meetings, we'd see them in jeans, coats, baseball caps, while they'd see all of us in ties, skirts, slacks/khakis, sometimes even biz suits, etc. But we're the same team.
Admittedly, these dress codes were throughout our branch (each branch could set their own). Even though we are a bank, the vast majority of people in these buildings will never see a member of the public or even a customer/member (which were employees of commercial banks, retail banks, etc). So it made no sense that we all had to dress up. But that was especially true for us us IT folks in helpdesk.
IME dress codes are there so door staff have some flimsy excuse to let all the girls in whilst arbitrarily excluding some boys.
At least this seemed to be the case ten years ago when I frequented nightclubs in the 1980s.
This may be the case for clubs, but in contexts like work and school dress codes are extremely frequently deliberately written or unevenly enforced to police women.