Magnus Carlsen’s trainer Peter Heine Nielsen pokes fun at jeansgate controversy, reveals ‘I woke my poor wife and said…’

Magnus Carlsen crashed to a defeat against Vincent Keymer at the semi-finals of the ongoing Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, in Wangels (Germany). In the match for third place, the World No. 1 downed Javokhir Sindarov and clinched victory in the first game.

Despite bouncing back to winning ways, Carlsen will be disappointed with the manner in which he lost to Keymer. The German GM won the first game, and then managed to hold Carlsen to a draw in the second. The Weissenhaus event was also seen as a tournament where Carlsen would dominate considering his public support for Freestyle Chess.

Meanwhile, Carlsen also had a controversial time in New York during 2024’s year-ending World Rapid and Blitz Championships. During the Rapid tournament, he was involved in an infamous jeansgate scandal, where he appeared for his games in a pair of jeans, which wasn’t allowed by FIDE. Carlsen was fined and asked to change, but he stated that he would do it the next day. He was asked to leave in response, and he pulled out of the tournament.

‘I woke my poor wife and said…’

At the sidelines of the ongoing Grand Slam event, Carlsen’s trainer Peter Heine Nielsen was asked about the jeansgate controversy by Der Spiegel and he had a hilarious story. “The world championship always takes place around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, so I worked from home in Lithuania. It was three in the morning when I saw that Magnus was not seeded for the next round. It was too funny. I woke my poor wife and said: Look, can you imagine that? She quickly went back to sleep,” he said.

After the jeansgate scandal, Carlsen returned to action at the Blitz C’ship, where he once again courted controversy in the final, where he shared the title with Ian Nepomniachtchi. The final also saw both receive match-fixing accusations from fans and players, due to a viral video where Carlsen was seen urging his opponent to play out draws if the FIDE didn’t agree to their demand to share the title.