Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi changed during the World Rapid Championship in Almaty
Magnus Carlsen was late for the first game of the World Rapid Championship in Almaty, arriving at the board 30 seconds before the end of the allotted time. The world chess champion ran into the hall, wearing a sweatshirt and tracksuit trousers. The whole point was that Carlsen had been on a ski trip organised by the tournament organisers and on his return he hit some traffic jams. The time limit in the blitz was three minutes plus two seconds for each move.
A winded Carlsen apologised to Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus for being late, won the match and went to change.
Ian Nepomniachtchi came out to play wearing a T-shirt with an inscription in Spanish in the colours of the flag of Argentina: “‘What are you looking at, idiot? What are you looking at, idiot? Come on, get out of here, you moron’. It was a phrase Messi said to Wegorst after the game with the Netherlands.
At the request of the tournament organisers, Nepomniachtchi changed his clothes. He and Magnus Carlsen were cautioned for not adhering to the dress code.
