Forget jeansgate—Magnus Carlsen's deal with Saudi Arabia is the real story
While the chess world fixates on the FIDE jeansgate scandal, Carlsen quietly signed a deal to serve as Saudi Arabia's "global ambassador" for the 2025 Esports World Cup.
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In one of the most bizarre sporting moments of 2024, Magnus Carlsen—the reigning world chess number one and arguably the greatest player of all time— withdrew from the Fide World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships following a dispute over a pair of jeans.
Carlsen had been defending his titles at the tournament in New York City when officials informed him that he could not continue playing while wearing jeans. When the grandmaster offered to change his clothes for the following day’s games, Fide—the governing body for world chess—fined him and insisted that he change immediately. Carlsen refused, and instead announced that he had decided to withdraw from the tournament and planned to go on holiday instead.
The absurd incident (jeansgate??) has since created a schism within the chess community, with some questioning Fide’s seemingly archaic and arbitrary regulations. Others criticized Carlsen for his poor display of professionalism by refusing to follow the rules. No matter what side of the debate you land on, it was a sad exit for the Norwegian chess phenom, who has already won five world rapids and seven world blitzes in his illustrious career, and captured both titles in 2022 and 2023.
Yet as the chess world focuses on Carlsen’s latest controversy, few are paying attention to a legitimate concern facing the former champion. Last week, the Esports World Cup Foundation—an organization funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)—announced a partnership with Chess.com to bring online chess tournaments to the Esports World Cup in Riyadh next year, with Carlsen serving as the tournament’s “global ambassador.”
“I’m thrilled to see chess join some of the biggest games in the world at the Esports World Cup," Carlsen said in the official press release. "This partnership is an incredible opportunity to grow the game, by introducing chess to new audiences and inspiring the next generation of players. Being part of the esports family is an amazing opportunity for chess to broaden its reach to a massive group of esports fans.”
While Carlsen’s deal is technically with the Esports World Cup, the event is entirely owned by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, and is part of the Kingdom’s broader power plays across sports. Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has invested unprecedented sums across a wide range of sports as part of an overarching soft power strategy aimed to rebrand Saudi Arabia as a global hub for tourism and entertainment. The vast majority of these investments—including Saudi’s foray into boxing, its purchase of English Premier League club Newcastle United, and its sponsorship agreements, have been facilitated by the PIF, which is chaired by Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman.
Carlsen now joins other legendary athletes like Rafael Nadal, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi as well-paid pitchmen for the Saudi regime. Expect to hear a steady stream of scripted praise for Saudi Arabia’s “reforms” (lol) and how his involvement can “inspire new generations of stars in the region” (it won’t). These are the same tired lines uttered by countless athletes before him who were paid handsomely to push the Kingdom’s propaganda campaigns.
Nadal, who was announced as an “ambassador” for Saudi’s tennis federation in January 2024, has since made three visits to the Kingdom, including to attend last week’s Next Gen ATP Finals. Speaking with Saudi state-owned media, the former champion heaped praise on the Kingdom’s advancements since unveiling Vision 2030 in 2016: ““Saudi is a very big country, with 35 million people, a very young population that I think having all these great events here encourages the young population here to practice and do sport and that’s great news. Because a sporting community is a healthy community and I really believe the country is moving in that direction and that’s very positive.”
While some of Nadal’s comments may seem sincere, it is difficult to confirm their authenticity. Last year, the talented Tariq Panja and I broke a story for The New York Times which revealed the details of Lionel Messi’s partnership with Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority — a deal valued at $25 million over three years, including publicized vacations in Saudi with his family, as well as a series of promotional material and regular social media posts. However, the bombshell revelation was that Messi’s contract also included a non-negotiable condition for Saudi officials: Messi cannot say anything that might “tarnish” Saudi Arabia’s image.
It is likely that a similar clause is included in Saudi’s agreements with each of its ambassadors, including Carlsen. It is a strategy that allows the Kingdom to reap the promotional benefits of being associated with some of the world’s most beloved athletes while maintaining full control of the narrative being presented, under penalty of litigation.
Nevertheless, Carlsen’s willingness to cooperate with Saudi Arabia is not surprising.The Kingdom's vast investments in sports and entertainment, backed by its seemingly limitless resources, have helped normalize its image, making it more palpable to previously hesitant audiences. Even Saudi Arabia’s increasing human rights abuses, from quashing dissent to record-breaking execution rates, has had little impact on sports leagues eager to participate in the Saudi gold rush.
Carlsen has also been busy launching the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament, a version of chess that randomizes the starting position of some of the key pieces on the board. The league is backed by German technology investor Jan Buettner and New York-based Left Lane Capital. If successful, it could lead to interest from entities such as the PIF, whose resources would further elevate Carlsen’s vision for the league. Partnering with Saudi for the Esports World Cup may just be the first of many deals between Saudi and the Norwegian chess legend.
One can even argue that Carlsen appears to already be buttering up the Saudis. When asked during an interview earlier this year whether he had ever been star-struck, Carlsen responded: “Yes, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.”
Update: In a interview to the YouTube channel of the Take Take Take app on Sunday, Dec. 29, Carlsen confirmed he plans to participate in the blitz championship starting Monday.
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We can always count on you to give us the important perspective Zidan!
SA is far from the ideal state but has there not been a significant improvement in the status of women there over the past five years? Certainly women are working and driving and not wearing burkas in Riyadh .... In my view, that is the base reform which needs to happen first in order to support further political and social reforms