“I haven’t appealed, honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much, if this is what they want to do,” he said, adding, “nobody wants to back down, if this is where we are, that’s fine by me. I’ll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here and that’s it.”

The International Chess Federation said in a statement the Norwegian was given the opportunity to change out of his jeans to avoid being ejected but would not do so.

“Today, Mr. Magnus Carlsen breached the dress code by wearing jeans, which are explicitly prohibited under long-standing regulations for this event,” the group said. “The Chief Arbiter informed Mr. Carlsen of the breach, issued a $200 fine, and requested that he change his attire. Unfortunately, Mr. Carlsen declined, and as a result, he was not paired for round nine. This decision was made impartially and applies equally to all players.”

In the interview, Carlsen said he didn’t realize he was wearing banned jeans after arriving at the tournament venue after a lunch meeting and hastily changing clothes

“I got here and I don’t know if it was after the first game or the second game … I got a fine, which is fine, and then I got a warning that I would not be paired if I didn’t go change my clothes,” he said.

Afterwards, he posted a picture of himself on X in the clothes he wearing, captioned, “OOTD,” or Outfit of the Day.

Carlsen, 34, became the second-youngest world chess champion in 2013 at age 22. From 2018 to 2020 he posted the longest undefeated streak in chess history, either winning or drawing 125 consecutive games.

He claimed his fifth world championship title against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in Dubai in 2021.