India, Jan. 7 -- When the World Rapid and Blitz Championship began in New York on December 26, the chess world was agog with speculation - will a challenger emerge to the chess juggernaut Magnus Carlsen, who had steamrolled his way to five world Classical titles, five world Rapid titles and eight world Blitz titles and was peerless in his domination of the game?

By the time the New Year rolled in, there was an answer, but the rival that emerged to the best player in the world was not any individual player - it was the body governing the game, Fide. In a span of six days, a pair of jeans and an unprecedented shared world title laid bare the already simmering rift between the game's organisational custodian and one of its greatest players,...