The world chess witnessed what can be called the controversial moment of the year. In a departure from tradition, Hikaru Nakamura plucked out D Gukesh’sblack king from the board after beating him and tossed it towards the spectators seated in front. Nakamura waved frantically towards the crowd like a football star as Gukesh sat on his chair. Throwing the opponent’s king away after winning a game is unheard of in this game.
The stage was “Checkmate: USA vs India”, an exhibition event played in Arlington, USA. The USA team whitewashed the Indians 5-0. That got overshadowed by Nakamura’s unconventional even outrageous exhibition of joy. It may have been an attempt to add colour to proceedings by a player who sometimes indulges in unusual and apparently non-malicious things when he is not playing chess.
This is the second such incident surrounding Gukeshthis year. In June, in the event called Norway Chess, Magnus Carlsen had banged the table with his right first after losing to the Indian. It was Gukesh’s first win against the Norwegian world No. 1. Carlsen had immediately put his arm on his rival’s shoulder before leaving in a hurry.
After his animated celebration drew attention, Nakamura said on his YouTube channel that there was no intention to disrespect. Just that he is looking at avenues to take chess closer to the public. The Indian team for the one-off exhibition event also included Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, Sagar Shah and Ethan Vaz.