FIDE’s strict dress code rules are an avoidable blunder

“The actions of the FIDE officials during this crucial stage disrupted my performance, and as a result of this interference, I lost the match,” she continued. “This situation highlights a lack of understanding of what athletes need and detracts from the very essence of chess. Such interference is unnecessary and weakens the fairness of the tournament. An official who does not understand his own rules should not interfere with the players, and should not influence the fairness of the game with his personal will.”

The fine on Zhu was perhaps even more glaringly absurd than the one on Carlsen. How are pristine white boots un-professional? In sharp contrast, just a few months before the World Rapid and Blitz, the world’s top players were competing in another elite chess tournament organised by FIDE — the Chess Olympiad — where diversity in attire was actually celebrated. The Vanuatu chess contingent, for example, showed up rocking attires in bright, riotous colours of red, green, yellow, and black — the colours of their national flag. The men’s team of Vanuatu was given the best original team uniform award (which was separate from the best classic team uniform and the best sport team uniform awards).

Vanuatu’s open team got the best uniform at the Budapest Olympiad closing ceremony from FIDE’s Dana Reizniece Ozola. (Photo: Facebook/Vanuatu Chess Federation)

Teams representing other nations like Ethiopia also sported colourful regional dresses that made them stand out at an event where participants from over 200 nations competed, mostly wearing athletic tracksuits or formal suits.

To avoid situations such as the one with Zhu and Carlsen, FIDE has made changes to its dress code for the Grand Swiss tournament, which begins later this week, allowing “non-distressed jeans” in the Samarkhand event. But it still leaves gaping holes in interpretation as big as the ones you would find in cool jeans these days. Here’s the dress code for men at Grand Swiss: “⁠Dark business casual trousers, including classic, non-distressed jeans (blue, black, and grey); ⁠Unicoloured shirt (with minor deviations allowed, e.g. checkered or striped); Dress shoes and loafers with closed toes; ⁠Unicoloured sneakers (soles can be a different colour).”

In its reasoning for the change, FIDE mentioned that allowing “appropriate jeans” offered players more comfort and freedom of choice, “while ensuring that the overall appearance of the event remains professional and respectful.” FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, in his comments, mentioned that the players and everybody associated with the sport should strive to ensure that the “sport remains appealing to the audience and sponsors.”

One wonders how appealing any sport is to sponsors or audiences when the leading face of the sport is kicked out from a major tournament for wearing jeans. Or when a leading women’s player complains that she lost because an official interfered with her concentration right before a decisive game over her white shoes.

Words like “professionalism” also made an appearance in FIDE’s 10-page presentation to players before last year’s FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships. “It’s about creating a positive and inspiring image for chess, showcasing a level of professionalism that aligns with the high caliber of competition… A polished appearance conveys seriousness and respect for the game,” FIDE had said in December last year when jeans were still outlawed.

If any player had shown up at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship — or shows up for the Grand Swiss — sporting what the Vanuatu players wore at Olympiad, it probably won’t pass the stringent attire rules of FIDE. Did the appearance of the Olympiad as a professional sporting event get compromised by the players sporting colourful attire that you would usually see a team wearing at a FIFA World Cup?

Vanuatu women’s chess team at Budapest Olympiad. (Photo: Facebook/Vanuatu Chess Federation)

Is the Global Chess League — where each of the six teams have vibrant jerseys for their players, and no one plays in formal suits — not a “professional” tournament?

In the aftermath of the controversy last year, Hikaru Nakamura, one of the sharpest tongues in the sport, had weighed in on the controversy in his inimitable fashion, saying: “Regarding Magnus playing in jeans, there is not a single person who won’t watch because Magnus is playing in jeans! Or in his underwear or Speedos! I don’t think there is a single person in the world who cares about these things at all. He’s the best player in the world. That’s what they want to see. This thing about dress code, the sooner that chess moves into the 21st century and we don’t try to portray this fake image of these great geniuses who never say bad things, keep emotions aside, and are gentlemen like it’s the 1600s! The sooner we get past this nonsense the better chess is going to be. It’s an antiquated view. It’s out of place.”

Bear in mind that FIDE’s strict rules are only enforceable at the events that it organizes, not at events like Norway Chess or the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

That any governing body of a sport constantly thinks in so much depth about creating an “inspiring image” for the sport is admirable. But its obsession with doing so through clothes that players wear is a bit odd.

On the one hand, FIDE is trying its best to convince the rest of the world and sponsors that chess is a serious sport, not a pastime or a hobby as some cynics tend to dismiss it. Or it’s trying to present a “professional” look for the sport at certain events organised by it by making players look like they’re heading into a board meeting to discuss quarterly earnings reports.

Of course this is not to say that FIDE completely does away with dress code for tournaments. As chess legend Susan Polgar had mentioned in a lengthy Facebook post last year after the Carlsen and Zhu controversy, “In my 50+ years in chess, I have personally seen players coming to serious chess tournaments with: gym shorts, old, worn-out T-shirts with holes, soaking wet swim trunks, beach flip flops and sometimes even barefoot. Some players wore the exact same outfit for 9-10 days or more, showered maybe once during the same duration (if we are lucky), and didn’t bother to brush teeth or use mouthwash. It was problematic and embarrassing to chess, the organizers and sponsors.”

This is why a dress code matters at any sporting event. But FIDE needs to realise that no fans or sponsors are walking away from the sport because a player is wearing jeans or white snow shoes.