Twenty-three-year-old chess player Anna-Maja Kazarian is speaking out after The International Chess Federation (FIDE) penalized her for wearing Burberry sneakers while competing at the FIDE Women's World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, this past December.
On December 27, 2023, the Dutch player shared a picture of the Burberry plaid sneakers she wore to the competition to her X account, writing, “One of the arbiters stopped me and asked me if I could change my shoes because they were ‘strange shoes’ and considered ‘sports shoes.’”
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Kazarian later shared a photo of a small yellow laminated card that read “official warning.” It stated that she would have to pay a fine of 100€ and she would not be included in the pairings for the next round if she continued to violate FIDE's dress code by wearing the shoes.
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As recounted in a 48-minute video uploaded to her YouTube channel, stuck between a 30-minute walk or a 10-minute drive, Kazarian chose to take a car to her hotel room on the other side of the river from the tournament venue so that she could switch shoes. She opted for a pair of black heels and shared a picture on X with the caption, “I hope FIDE is happy now. I’m absolutely devastated. The way that this was handled is not okay.”
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As highlighted by the The New York Times, the FIDE dress code only specifies sports sneakers — and not sneakers in general— as prohibited items. In an interview with the publication, Kazarian said a complete ban on all sneakers would have been easier to understand and called on FIDE to clarify the guidelines.
In the video uploaded to her YouTube channel, Kazarian shared more details on what happened at the late December tournament and doubled down on stating that she considers the Burberry sneakers “fancy” shoes that she mostly reserves for special occasions, stressing that they cannot be worn for sports.
Kazarian also recounted that she was first approached by an arbiter about the shoes after round five and noticed an arbiter carrying the yellow warning card throughout round six, which became a distraction from the game for her. She says she received the warning after round six and was referred to a higher-level official after protesting. She mentioned the officials allowed her to play round seven but told her she would have to change after that.
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When asked about Kazarian's situation, Pavel Tregubov, FIDE's technical delegate at the tournament, told The New York Times: “I understand her point of view.” He went on to say that FIDE will work on clarifying their dress code's definition of sports shoes for the future.
Tregoubov also said that the yellow warning slips were a new procedure being implemented to enforce the dress code. Multiple were issued at the tournament, and they were all for shoes after the arbiters determined that they were too sporty. He stated that the others accepted theirs, and only Kazarian spoke up about it.
Kazarian, who started playing chess at the age of six, was the 2020 Dutch Women's Internet Chess champion. She also holds the titles of FIDE Master and Women International Master, accolades she received in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
