Magnus Carlsen has opponent's phone snatched by arbiter after obliging selfie request at Grenke Chess Festival

The second day of the Grenke Chess Festival Freestyle Open witnessed a dramatic moment involving Magnus Carlsen, with the Norwegian superstar’s opponent attempting to take a selfie with him and having her phone whisked away by the arbiter immediately afterwards. The incident took place right before the start of the second round in Karlsruhe, Germany on Friday, with Kazakhstan Woman Grand Master Alua Nurman asking the world No 1 for the picture.

Carlsen initially obliged to the selfie request, but notified one of the tournament arbiters right away. Nurman, as a result had her phone taken away in an instant, with the game getting underway minutes later.

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Watch the incident here:

Kazakhstan no.2 Woman Alua Nurman takes a selfie with her opponent Magnus Carlsen before the start of Round 2 at the @GRENKEChess Freestyle Open! Before the start of the round, an Arbiter comes and takes Alua's phone with him.

Video: @ram_abhyudaya/ ChessBase India pic.twitter.com/3KZ8lc17sh

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) April 3, 2026

Fide regulations prohibit players from carrying smartphones or any other electronic devices to the venue during tournaments unless explicitly approved by the arbiter. They may carry their smartphones in their bags, but must have it completely switched off. Players are also forbidden from accessing their bags without prior permission.

Déjà vu for Magnus at Grenke Festival

In Carlsen’s case, however, it was the second time he was involved in such an incident in the span of a year, with the previous instance also taking place at the Grenke Chess Festival. In the 2025 edition, it was Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot, an eight-time French champion, who had asked for a selfie.

8-time French Champion Etienne Bacrot asks Magnus Carlsen for a selfie before their game! 😀#FreestyleChess #GrenkeChess pic.twitter.com/dcDiE5Y9YF

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 19, 2025

The five-time world champion, however, had agreed to the selfie with a selfie with a smile. Carlsen did contact an arbiter later in the day, it was not over Bacrot’s possession of a smartphone but to complain against a wrist watch worn by 53-year-old GM Victor Mikhalevski, his second opponent of the day, claiming it was distracting him and having it taken off in the end. Bacrot, meanwhile, had his phone taken by the arbiter right after the selfie while Carlsen was busy setting the pieces on the board.

And speaking to ChessBase India after losing to Carlsen in 44 moves, Nurman cited Bacrot’s gesture last year as the reason behind her selfie request.

“Last year, Etienne Bacrot also took a selfie. I thought like, why not? I’m very grateful that Magnus agreed to this,” the 18-year-old said on Friday.

Carlsen had won the tournament with a perfect score of 9/9 last year and has continued his winning streak over the last couple of days with victories over WGMs Narmin Khalafova and Alua Nurman as well as French GM Maxime Lagarde over the last couple of days.