FIDE chief defends Viswanathan Anand in brutal criticism of Magnus Carlsen: ‘If you want to attack someone…’

2024’s year-ending FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships was riddled with controversies, in New York. First, it was the Rapid tournament, which was overshadowed by Magnus Carlsen’s jeans scandal. Then in the Blitz Championship, controversy hit once again as Carlsen shared the title with Ian Nepomniachtchi.

During the Rapid C’ship, Carlsen turned up in a pair of jeans, which was allowed according to FIDE regulations. He was fined and threatened to be unpaired from the subsequent rounds for the day, if he didn’t change into formal trousers. He quit the event in response, and then accused FIDE officials like Viswanathan Anand of not being qualified for their roles. Meanwhile, he even stated that the FIDE threatened Freestyle Grand Slam players of removing them from the World C’ship cycle.

FIDE chief defends Viswanthan Anand, attacks Magnus Carlsen

Breaking his silence for the first time, FIDE chief Arkady Dvorkovich decided to attack Carlsen for his words on senior FIDE officials like Anand. “If you want to attack someone, attack me. You can criticize anyone (in FIDE) constructively. You can argue with anyone in FIDE. No personal attacks… Really want to thank Vishy Anand for his contributions,” he said, in an interview with Chessbase India.

“Carlsen’s words after the jeans incident were too much! It’s clear. He knows it, I know it. We should treat everyone with respect… Carlsen also acknowledged that some of his remarks were too much.”

Commenting on the jeans scandal, the FIDE President said, “Magnus knows he breaks the rules. He accepts it. It’s not completely intentional. We spoke to Magnus and Henrik (Magnus’ father) after what happened. They acknowledged that the dress code was broken. The chief arbiter did everything according to the rules. In this sense, there was no violation of rules from FIDE side. But the rules also allowed some flexibility. A decision could have been different even with the rules.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, including FIDE and Magnus Carlsen,” he added.

A video which went viral after the Blitz event also put match-fixing accusations on Carlsen. After he and Ian drew in the tie-breaker, Carlsen was recorded telling the Russian to play out draws if the FIDE didn’t agree to their title-sharing demand.