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Magnus Carlsen arrives one minute late for 3-min game, says he was buying new pair of jeans

Bonus Viewing: Seven videos of Carlsen arriving late for games, three of them at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship across three years

Magnus Carlsen, after facing his 2018 Contender Fabiano Caruana. (Michał Walusza | FIDE)

Magnus Carlsen made a fashionably late entry into round 1 of the World Blitz Championship at New York’s Wall Street on Monday and said one of the reasons was that he was buying a new pair of jeans to wear for the event.

Magnus Carlsen almost ended his participation in the ongoing FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship because he was fined by FIDE’s chief arbiter for the event for wearing jeans in a game rather than formal trousers. Carlsen was also handed a warning that he would not be paired if he did not change.

Magnus Carlsen had walked out of the World Rapid Championship over this incident, but was coaxed back to play the Blitz Championship by FIDE’s top officials.

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He turned up for his round 1 game against Michael Bezold, a 52-year-old German grandmaster one minute late. Since Bezold was playing with white pieces, he started the clock and made his first move. Magnus Carlsen then started adjusting his pieces and then made his first move with just one-minute, 49 seconds left on his clock. He did defeat Bezold.

Magnus Carlsen arrives one minute late for the first round of Blitz, fixes the pieces, and… wins the game! 😎♟️ #RapidBlitz

Were the time odds games yesterday the perfect warmup for the World #1? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TnAu1hsIEO

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 30, 2024

“It feels good to be back,” Magnus Carlsen said with a smile before he was asked if he was wearing a new pair of jeans by the presenter.

“Yes, a new one. I got them just for the game today, which is one of the reasons why I was late. But of course it’s my responsibility,” said Magnus Carlsen with a sly smile.

Turning up late for a game is not new for Magnus Carlsen. Check out our montage of clips of him pulling up late time and again over the years:

At Round 7 of World Rapid Championship, Magnus Carlsen arrived two minutes late for his game against Daniel Dardha. Then spent time adjusting his pieces.

In Round 7 Magnus Carlsen arrived two minutes late for his game against Daniel Dardha 🇧🇪, and still took his time to adjust all the pieces! #RapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/8miXBSmoPq

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 27, 2024

Carlsen arrived late for a game against Wesley So at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament last month

Magnus Carlsen arrives late for the big showdown with co-leader Wesley So! https://t.co/40us6qUQ1v #TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/ES07Fwm1Yy

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 14, 2024

At the Chess Olympiad this year, Carlsen arrived 10 minutes late to the 3rd round game against Roberto Garcia Pantoja after cycling to the venue. Five more minutes and he would have been handed a loss by default while playing for Norway on the top board.

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At the same event, Palestinian chess player Eman Sawan told Chess24. “My favourite player is Magnus Carlsen and I hope to take a picture with him. I always wait for him, but he’s always late!”

🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen arriving 10 minutes late to the 3rd round.

This is Magnus’ first game in this #ChessOlympiad.
Norway drew to the lower-seeded Canada yesterday and plays against Colombia today. Will the World #1 help bring the team to victory?

ℹ️ The default time in the… pic.twitter.com/f8E38YtFSj

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 13, 2024

Carlsen arrived late for his clash with Praggnanandhaa in the SuperBet Rapid and Blitz Tournament in Poland, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour in May this year

Magnus Carlsen arrives late for his clash with Praggnanandhaa! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/R63G3nL2H0

— chess24 (@chess24com) May 10, 2024

Carlsen arrived late for game against Anish Giri at Norway Chess 2023

There are more than 1,2 million searches on Google about Magnus Carlsen showing up late for his games! Sometimes his “late” is “too late”, but usually it’s a matter of seconds after the game starts or just about the time the game starts; the same happened in this year’s… pic.twitter.com/v2aR5oqJGf

— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 15, 2023

Carlsen arrived 2 minutes late to his game against Tigran Petrosian Jr in Round 3 of the 2023 FIDE World Rapid Championship. But he still won the game!

🎥 2023: World #1 Magnus Carlsen arrived 2 minutes late to his game against GM Tigran Petrosian in Round 3 of the 2023 FIDE World Rapid Championship – he won the game!

2022: Magnus was 2½ minutes late for Round 1 of the FIDE World Blitz Championship, starting with just 30… pic.twitter.com/qGBXZJMWUe

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 24, 2024

In 2022 as well, Magnus was 2½ minutes late for Round 1 of the FIDE World Blitz Championship, starting with just 30 seconds on the clock. He still won the game!