Chess Prodigy Magnus Carlsen agreed to a selfie with his opponent before their game at the Grenke Chess Festival in Germany on April 3 and then immediately got her phone confiscated. That is the kind of story that only the Justin Bieber of Chess seems to generate, on or off the board. Kazakhstan's Alua Nurman, a Grandmaster and silver medallist at the Kazakhstan Chess Olympiad, was scheduled to face the five-time world champion on Friday. She asked for a selfie before the game. Carlsen agreed, smiled for the photo and then wasted no time in flagging to the officials that she had a phone in the playing venue without the arbiter's permission. The phone was confiscated before the game began. Nurman, visibly taken aback, had to sit down and play a world champion having just watched her phone walk out of the room. Carlsen won the game and extended his winning streak at the tournament.
What FIDE Rules Say
The rules are clear on this. Under FIDE Rule 12.3(b), players are forbidden from carrying a mobile phone or any electronic communication device in the playing venue without the arbiter's explicit permission. If the device is present, it must be completely switched off. If it produces any sound during play, the player loses the game immediately, regardless of the position on the board. The opponent wins. The only exception is if the opponent cannot win by any legal sequence of moves, in which case the result is a draw.
Furthermore, Rule 13.7(b) extends the restriction beyond just the players, nobody is permitted to use a mobile phone or communication device in the playing venue or any contiguous area designated by the arbiter without authorisation. Nurman's phone was present and not switched off. The rule was broken the moment she walked in with it.
Has This Happened Before?
Yes, this is surely not the first time Carlsen has been at the centre of exactly this situation at the Grenke Chess Festival. In the 2025 edition, French Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot also took a selfie with Carlsen before their game. Carlsen agreed on that occasion too. Bacrot's phone was subsequently confiscated by the arbiter. Same tournament, same scenario, one year apart. The 2025 festival also produced another Carlsen moment when he complained that his opponent Victor Mikhalevski's wristwatch was distracting him. The watch was removed following his complaint.
On the other hand, Nurman said after her game that it was actually Bacrot's selfie from the previous year that inspired her to ask. "Last year, Etienne Bacrot also took a selfie. I thought like, why not? I'm very grateful that Magnus agreed to this," she said. Carlsen won the 2025 Grenke Chess Festival with a perfect score of 9 out of 9 and has continued in strong form this year. The selfie tradition, it seems, is becoming an accidental annual ritual at this tournament, one that keeps ending the same way for whoever holds the phone.