Carlsen goes shopping for new jeans, arrives a minute late for 3-min game, and wins it

Magnus Carlsen reaffirmed his stature on Tuesday as the King of chess after forcing FIDE to bend its knees. And he did that in typical Magnus style by arriving late for his opening game of the World Blitz Chess Championship in New York.

There was more to his dramatic entrance because the World No. 1 came wearing jeans. After the recent drama involving a dress code violation for wearing jeans, this was the Norwegian's way of showing that he wields significant power in chess.

Latecomer takes the win
The other highlight of Carlsen's grandstand entry for the Blitz competition was that he couldn't care less about time running out on his clock. His opponent, Michael Bezold of Germany, had made his move and pressed the clock while Carlsen was nowhere to be seen.

The Blitz games have a time control of three minutes per move, with an increment of two seconds per move. When Carlsen rushed to his board, he was over a minute down on the clock. But instead of getting on with the game right away, Carlsen still took time to adjust his pieces, and by the time he made his first move, the five-time classical chess world champion was already 1 minute and 12 seconds behind.

But the World No. 1 made short work of his 52-year-old opponent, ranked 870 in the world, in 43 moves. Incredibly, Carlsen finished the game with 27 seconds remaining.

Late because of jeans!
The official channel quizzed Carlsen shortly after his win. "It feels good to be back," he said. When asked if he was wearing a new pair of jeans, the reigning World Blitz Champion replied: " It's a new one. I actually got them just for the game, and it was one of the reasons why I was late. Of course, it's my responsibility."

Carlsen was one of the eight players who booked their spots in Tuesday midnight's knockout event. After 13 round of blitz, Carlsen finished on 9.5 points, third among the eight qualifiers.