German GM says FIDE dress code forced underage girl to play with ‘mom’s scarf wrapped around hips’ | Chess News

After Magnus Carlsen opted to pull out of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, the feud over dress code at chess events enforced FIDE widened. Another player, who is playing at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in USA, accused chess’s global governing body of forcing an underage girl to change out of her jeans.
After Carlsen’s exit from the glamorous year-end event at Wall Street in New York, American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura ran a poll on X asking “Should every chess player at the World Rapid tournament in New York City wear jeans tomorrow?”
To this, German grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz replied: “FIDE forced an underaged girl today, wearing jeans, to change. The girl out of emergency took a scarf from her mother and wrapped it around her hips, becoming a sort of ‘skirt’ with naked legs…Last year they weren’t strict to top players, this year at least no one is above rule!”

Fide forced an underaged girl today, wearing a jeans, to change. The girl out of emergency took a scarf from her mother&wrapped it around her hips, becoming a sort of “skirt” with naked legs…Last year they weren’t strict to top players, this year at least no one is above rule!
— ElliPaehtz (@ElliPaehtz) December 28, 2024
While the player in question was not named, in another tweet reply, Elisabeth Paehtz said: “I am not inventing it, and I saw the girl in her new grey ‘scarf skirt’ with 0 tights on and I am part of the same club as her.”
It must be noted that the dress code for the event was made public FIDE well before the start of the glamorous event, so players cannot claim that the dress code was sprung on them out of blue.
Last year, at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, Dutch grandmaster Anna Maja Kazarian was fined 100 Euros FIDE for wearing sports shoes. She eventually changed her shoes, but did point out that another male player was just warned and not fined for a dress code breach.

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