Chess: Magnus Carlsen's controversial jeans sold for Rs 31 lakh

The five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen's controversial jeans has been sold for a massive Rs 31.5 lakh after an intense bidding war on an e-commerce platform.

Carlsen had stirred up a massive controversy in December last year when he entered the playing hall wearing a pair of jeans at the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Championships.

The playing conditions set by FIDE, the world governing body for chess and the organisers for the said event, prohibited players from were anything other than formal pants in its dress code.

Carlsen had then pulled out midway from the Rapid competition as a sign of protest after being asked to change his jeans in between rounds. He later returned to compete and win the Blitz event.

Carlsen had put out the same pair of jeans for auction last month with all the entire amount from the bid set to go towards Big Brothers Big Sisters – an NGO.

"The forbidden jeans – can now be yours," Carlsen had tweeted then. "I am auctioning my jeans.

"A sentence I never thought I would write. But here we are. All proceeds go to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program," he added.

Carlsen's jeans were listed on the e-commerce platform as "Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen's #JeansGate Jeans."

The highest bidder and buyer of the jeans remains anonymous.