...turned down the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2011. It seems they rejected it after checking it out and deciding they couldn't afford the $1,781,643.71 it would cost to fly to Stockholm and back.
The whole thing really isn't funny -- Reinhart-Rogoff's thesis has been used as an excuse to cause great damage. For those who have been too caught up with all the other news to know about this story, here is a good summary by Mike Konczal.
Finally, it is fairly unusual for macroeconomists to be featured on the front page of major newspapers, but even rarer for a chess grandmaster. First time in just over 40 years, I think...