Overview
- Before their game at the Grenke Chess Festival in Germany, Magnus Carlsen posed for a selfie with 18-year-old Kazakh grandmaster Alua Nurman.
- Right after the photo, Carlsen alerted an official that Nurman had a phone, and the referee confiscated it before play began under event rules.
- There was no claim of cheating and the match continued, with Carlsen winning as Nurman later placed second in the women’s category.
- Nurman posted the selfie on Instagram and told ChessBase India she took the photo after seeing French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot do the same last year.
- Tournaments ban phones because chess engines and covert signals can aid players, so organizers now enforce strict checks, including device sweeps and confiscation.