Magnus Carlsen struck the table after losing his game to Arjun Erigaisi in round 9 of the FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025. The arbiter for that game, Chris Bird, explained Magnus’s actions in an X post.
Christopher Bird
FIDE Arbiter“No pieces, chessboards or tables were harmed during the filming of this video and for those wondering, Magnus immediately apologized to his opponent and me.”
American GM Levon Aronian replied to this post, noting that such situations should not be normalized.
Levon Aronian
American GM“Chris, I don’t think we as should be normalizing tantrums like that. It does affect players who are in a middle of a game who hear loud noises. In many sports such acts are penalized as unsportsmanlike behavior in order to send a message to younger athletes.”
Chris Bird responded by adding that he wasn’t trying to justify.
Christopher Bird
FIDE Arbiter“Certainly not my intention to make it seem like I was OK with this behavior. I think in the video you can see I briefly spoke with Magnus, who like I said apologized. Beyond that point the issue was handed to my superiors to deal with as they saw fit.”
The FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025 takes place in Doha, Qatar from December 29 to 30 with a €500,000 prize pool. Magnus Carlsen (2795) finished the first day of the tournament in 11th place with 9/13 points.
Credit: FIDE/Lennart Ootes
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