The Worldwide Chess Federation fined a 23-year-old chess participant from the Netherlands at its World Speedy and Blitz Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for carrying “sports activities sneakers.”
FIDE, because the federation is thought, fined Anna-Maja Kazarian 100 euros ($111) for carrying what the group’s arbiters deemed “sports activities sneakers” through the match this week. It additionally required Ms. Kazarian, who streams her games to more than 34,000 followers on Twitch, to alter into extra formal sneakers in between video games.
Failing to alter into different sneakers, which she wanted to retrieve from her resort room throughout the river from the match’s venue, would “lead to not being invited within the pairings for the following spherical,” in line with the official warning, which she obtained on a yellow laminated card.
The sneakers in query are plaid, canvas Burberry sneakers with white rubber soles. She held them up in a YouTube video that she recorded after the incident, and mentioned that the sneakers had been a present from her sister.
“I barely ever put on them as a result of they’re fancy,” Ms. Kazarian mentioned within the 48-minute video, during which she recapped the day and her video games.
The primary rule of FIDE’s dress code for the tournament is “costume to impress,” the federation’s web site states. The costume code is meant to advertise a “good and constructive picture of chess” and “shall be strictly enforced,” in line with the web site.
Typically, sneakers are allowed, however “sports activities sneakers” should not. The distinction between the 2 just isn’t clearly acknowledged within the costume code.
For ladies particularly, the next just isn’t allowed: “sport’s sneakers, clacking sneakers, any sort of denims, any sort of inappropriate material (e.g. torn material or material with holes, unclean material), sport caps, solar glasses, revealing apparel.”
The principles for males are comparable. “Sports activities sneakers, T-shirts, any sort of denims, any sort of inappropriate material (e.g. torn material or material with holes, unclean material), sport caps, solar glasses” should not accepted.
The paradox of the definition of “sports activities sneakers” is difficult for gamers deciding what to put on, mentioned Pavel Tregubov, FIDE’s technical delegate on the match and a chess participant. “I perceive her perspective,” he mentioned of Ms. Kazarian. FIDE will work on a clearer definition of sports activities sneakers for future costume codes, Mr. Tregubov mentioned.
Ms. Kazarian wasn’t the one one who obtained a yellow card with a warning through the match this week. Arbiters gave out two yellow playing cards within the open part for all gamers and three within the ladies’s part, Mr. Tregubov mentioned, including that each one of them have been issued due to sports activities sneakers. The arbiters gave out the playing cards solely in circumstances during which they have been one hundred pc positive that the sneakers have been too sporty for the match, he mentioned.
The yellow playing cards that got out at this yr’s match, which has 330 individuals, have been a brand new characteristic to be sure that extra folks adopted the costume code, Mr. Tregubov mentioned.
Ms. Kazarian was the one participant who objected, Mr. Tregubov mentioned, including that “all different gamers accepted it.”
Critics on the web have been fast to sentence the strict costume code, with some folks arguing that the chess group has the fallacious priorities.
Others questioned why a male participant was allowed to put on white sneakers on the match, as seen in an image posted by FIDE itself, whereas Ms. Kazarian’s have been deemed inappropriate.
In a cellphone interview on Thursday, Ms. Kazarian expressed her disappointment with how FIDE had dealt with the state of affairs and mentioned that being rushed from the venue and pushed to the resort had been worrying and ugly. Within the YouTube video, Ms. Kazarian additionally mentioned that she felt she had been handled as if she have been a prison.
“If she felt like a prison, I’m very sorry for that,” Mr. Tregubov mentioned. “Often the arbiters are shy,” he added. “It’s not like in soccer.”
Ms. Kazarian mentioned the expertise left her confused and unfocused throughout her rounds of chess video games on Thursday, a day after the incident. On Thursday she wore heels, she mentioned.
“They need to alter the rule so it’ll be clearer,” Ms. Kazarian mentioned, including {that a} blanket ban of all sneakers would have been simpler to comply with.
After Ms. Kazarian took a automotive to her resort on Wednesday and altered out of her sneakers, she returned to the venue to complete the day of video games. However she was preoccupied by the state of affairs, she mentioned, which reverberated into the following day.
“They acted as if I didn’t learn the costume code,” she mentioned. “Their angle towards me simply was not pleasant.”