A day after Magnus Carlsen made headlines again with another smash of the fist on the board after losing to Arjun Erigaisi at the World Blitz Championship, chess legend Levon Aronian has pointed out that in other sports, acts of “unsportsmanlike behavior” are “penalized to send a message to younger athletes.”
Aronian is one of the most respected voices on the chess circuit who does not pull his punches no matter how hairy the issue. Aronian had recently called out Vladimir Kramnik, who was like a “chess parent” to him in his younger days, for the former world champion’s unsubstantiated cheating claims.
Aronian was reacting to a post on X from arbiter Chris Bird, who had handled the Carlsen-Arjun situation on Monday.
“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,” Bird wrote on X while quoting a clip of the Carlsen fist smash video.
Aronian was not amused at the veteran arbiter making light of the Carlsen incident.
“Chris, I don’t think we should be normalizing tantrums like that. It does affect players who are in the 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,” Aronian rebuked.
Arbiter Chris Bird informs Magnus Carlsen about the forfeit for pressing the clock before resetting pieces in the correct squares. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)
To this, a defensive Bird replied: “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.”
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Bird was also close by when Carlsen had clattered over his pieces in another game on Tuesday in a game against Armenian grandmaster Haik M Martirosyan in Round 14. Bird had forfeited Carlsen.
Despite the two defeats with unfortunate incidents, Carlsen made it to the semi-finals of the World Blitz Championship, where he is in line to win his 8th title. He also recently won his 6th World Rapid Championship title.
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