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Journalism of Courage
Magnus Carlsen became a father for the first time last week as the five-time world champion and his wife, Ella Victoria Carlsen, welcomed their first child on September 27. Ella posted a photo of Magnus and their newborn sleeping next to each other to announce the news. The world of chess posted its congratulations to the couple on social media. But it was the response of FIDE, the global governing body of chess, that stood out.
“Congratulations. Magnus Carlsen has great genes,” FIDE wrote on social media, borrowing the tag line of American Eagle ads which feature actress Sydney Sweeney. The original tag line has caused some controversy.
FIDE’s message also makes a not-so-subtle reference to the infamous ‘jeans-gate’ incident at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz in December last year when Carlsen had withdrawn from the Rapid portion after being warned by an arbiter for wearing jeans to matches. The arbiter had asked Carlsen to change the jeans immediately between rounds, which had led to an angry Carlsen boycotting the tournament in New York’s Wall Street.
FIDE and Carlsen had eventually come to an agreement leading to the world no 1 returning in time for the World Blitz Championship.
Carlsen’s one-time rival and current world no 2, Hikaru Nakamura, who is expecting a child himself, posted on X: “Huge congrats to Magnus Carlsen and Ella on the birth of your first baby!”
Earlier this year, Carlsen was interviewed on the BotezLive YouTube channel where he was asked if he would want his kids to play chess.
“I will not force anything on my kids when that day comes but I think chess is a great game and it’s fun and I think I will at least encourage my kids to test it,” Carlsen had said.
Carlsen and Ella got married in January earlier this year. After his marriage, he was also asked on the BotezLive interview whether there was any impact on his chess after he got married.
“I should be very careful about what I say right now,” he said with a smile before adding: “I’ve generally played quite well and had fun playing chess since we got together. I’ve won 100 per cent of my classical tournaments — granted I’ve only played one. She’s a great support at tournaments as well. She understood quite quickly that I get a little moody when I play but she deals with that pretty well.”
