Nakamura explains controversial celebration vs chess world champion Gukesh: 'I was always gonna throw the King'

While the majority of the Indian chess fraternity and a few renowned chess grandmasters are up in arms against Hikaru Nakamura throwing D Gukesh's king into the crowd after a game, the world No 2 has defended his action, revealing that it was a pre-planned celebration move. Dramatically, Nakamura picked and tossed world champion Gukesh’s king into the crowd after beating him in a bullet game as Team USA crushed India 5-0 in the ‘Checkmate: USA vs India’ exhibition event at Texas.

Nakamura’s ‘antics’ and ‘disrespect’ to the 19-year-old world champion from India naturally antagonised a lot of Indian chess fans, who lambasted the 37-year-old American Grandmaster, while the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik called it a ‘degradation of the modern chess.’

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The important thing to consider here is that it was the organisers who had asked the winner of the Nakamura vs Gukesh match to toss the opponent’s king into the crowd, as they wanted to create more drama and eye-catching moments. The Checkmate: USA vs India is an exhibition event and not a regular chess tournament.

The organisers are aiming to bring in new fans into the sport with experiments like live audiences during the matches and extravagant entries, commentary and celebrations.

Nakamura explains controversial celebration vs Gukesh

Nonetheless, Nakamura has now defended his controversial celebration, providing a crucial clarification that it was pre-planned.

“From the start, if I won I was always gonna throw the King - the fact that it was a dramatic bullet game made it even better. I hope the fans enjoyed it,” Nakamura told ChessBase India.

"Obviously, it was a very tense match. I think when I was 3-0, effectively we won. I think many people expected it to be very boring after that, but Sagar and Gukesh played very very well. They both could've easily won their matches, ultimately Levy and I won.

From the start,… pic.twitter.com/imsrPqhT7h

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) October 5, 2025

Checkmate: USA vs India organisers defend Nakamura

Meanwhile, the organisers of the Checkmate: USA vs India match have also defended Nakamura after he faced criticism from the governing body FIDE.

Taking a dig at Nakamura, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky wondered if any other player would have done the same.

“The event was a show. Fans were ecstatic. Players were encouraged to behave accordingly. All true”, he wrote on X. “Now, for better or worse, name me one top player who would do what Hikaru did.”

In reply, Checkmate: USA vs India match organisers shot back at Sutovsky with a witty reply, highlighting the light nature of the event.

On behalf of the organizers, we admit having forced the players to have fun, to please the crowd and to forego the FIDE Etiquette.
We sincerely apologize if the players, the live audience and the vast majority of online viewers had a good time.

— Checkmate: USA vs India (@CheckmateUSAIND) October 6, 2025

“On behalf of the organizers, we admit having forced the players to have fun, to please the crowd and to forego the FIDE Etiquette. We sincerely apologize if the players, the live audience and the vast majority of online viewers had a good time,” the organisers wrote in reply.