Carlsen’s infamous chess-breaking jeans sell for just over $36000

In a surprise to absolutely no one even remotely familiar with modern internet behavior, Magnus Carlsen’s “jeans that broke chess” have successfully sold for over $36,000. The greatest player of all time was sanctioned last year’s World Rapid Championship for wearing them in a dress code violation, sparking a high-profile spat with FIDE.

Carlsen’s jeans have been on sale on eBay for a while now, and the bids continued to increase until finally peaking on the morning of March 1. The “JeansGate” jeans, as they’re called in the listing, ultimately sold for $36,100 after 94 offers were placed for them. How or why this happened is anyone’s guess, but celebrity items, especially those tied to major events, always sell for a ton, though I didn’t expect a pair of jeans to rack up such a price.