Dress Code For European Chessers!

Shape up scruffbags! At the latest meeting of the General Assembly of the European Chess Union (ECU) in Greece it was agreed that from 1 January 2012 all players taking part in ECU events will have to abide by a dress code or face expulsion from the competition!

The wording goes like this...

In general, players are required to follow the code of casual dressing which means:

• for men dress trousers or jeans, a long-sleeve or shirt-sleeve dress shirt, alternatively T-shirt or polo, loafers or dressy slip-ons, socks, shoes or sneakers (no beach-wear slips, etc.) and, if appropriate, a sport coat or blazer. The trousers, the jeans as well as the shirts and polo’s worn should be crisp and show no excessive wear, no holes and shall be free of body odor.
• for women blouses, turtleneck, T-shirts or polo’s, trousers, jeans or slacks, skirts, dresses, and appropriate footwear (boots, flats, mid-heel or high-heel shoes, sneakers with sock) or any other appropriate clothing modification.
• a jacket, vest or sweater, a scarf, as well as jewelry (earrings, necklace, etc.) coordinated to the outfit may be worn.
• the pieces of the clothing should be crisp, show no excessive wear, no holes and shall be free of body odor.
• in respect to shirts, the second from the top button may also be opened in addition to the very top button.
• sunglasses, glasses, neck ties can be worn during the games, no caps or hats, except for religious reasons
• in general, this category of appearance demands a pulled-together, harmonious, complete look with colors, fabrics, shoes, and accessories, for both men and women.
• national costumes which fit into the generally accepted dress code and are not offensive or indecent to others can be worn

So is this a well overdue smartening up of the game's image, or an absurd attempt to impose laughable rules on poor unsuspecting chess players?

The General Assembly also approved a ban on draw offers before move 40, but they shelved (for now at least) the idea of copyrighting the moves to chess games. Let's be thankful for that at least...

Comments?

Chess.com's Danny Rensch adopts his own unique dress code!

Can you spot the dress code infringements in this picture?

Silvio Danailov (first from the right), the president of the ECU (photo from the ECU website)