There was a kerfuffle in the chess world this weekend. Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen quit a tournament on Friday because the tournament officials tried to get him to change out of his jeans. He’ll be back in on Monday. The tournament decided to loosen their dress code to allow “appropriate jeans”. I find the whole thing pretty funny.
I wear jeans virtually every day from late September to early April. Jeans are the perfect pants. They are tough, warm, and comfortable.
Tough is obvious. I keep my jeans for years and years. If they can put up with being worn every day, no matter what I happen to be doing for years and years, they have to be tough. I’m pretty sure they were originally designed as work clothes, and they can take a lot of work.
Warm means that you can wear them in any kind of weather except the disgusting summer heat. Rain, snow, sleet, ice, it doesn’t matter. Jeans will get you through.
And, of course, they are comfortable. Sometimes they can be a little stiff when first purchased, but a couple of wears and washes takes care of that. The most comfortable pants I’ve ever worn were jeans. I wouldn’t trade them for any other kind of pants.
I don’t blame Carlsen at all for drawing a line in the sand over a pair of jeans.
