The 2024 World Rapid and Blitz has gone somewhat sideways, with yop seed Magnus Carlsen withdrawing from the current Rapid event, and the upcoming Blitz event. The issue was a breach of the dress code, with Carlsen being find for wearing jeans, and then be unpaired when he refused to change them before his next round. After his offer to change them at the end of the day was refused, he decided to withdraw from both events. Carlsen was not the first player to breach the dress rules at this years event, but in this case was the only one to refuse to change his attire when requested.
Online opinion on the decision to fine Carlsen, and Carlsen's subsequent withdrawal is somewhat mixed. There are those who think the rules are silly (or an exception should be made for Carlsen), while there are others who point out that he was aware of the rules in advance (or that he was doing badly enough in the event to find an escape hatch). Personally* I am not a fan of strict rules like this, but if you have them, then they should be enforced.
As for the over the board action, four players share the lead after 9 rounds. Volodar Murzin, Jan-Krzystof Duda, Arjun Erigaisi, and Alexander Grischuk are all on 7/9 with 4 rounds to play. In the Women's event, Wenjun Ju, Harika Dronavalli and Humpy Koneru all lead on 6.5/8.
*I have both been DQ'd from an official FIDE event for breaching a regulation (2004 Chess Olympiad) and been part of enforcing tournament regulations at official FIDE events (I was an arbiter at the 2023 World Rapid and Blitz)
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