New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) The chess world was marred by controversy when Japan-born American GM Hikaru Nakamura defeated the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju to secure a 5-0 victory for Team USA over Team India at the Checkmate: USA vs India and grabbed the Indian GM’s king, tossing it into a cheering crowd and waved his arms in celebration.

The act sparked mixed reactions on social media, with many calling his celebration disrespectful. A video of Nakamura’s act rapidly went viral on social media.

FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky also criticised Nakamura for his behaviour by posting on X, “The event was a show. Fans were ecstatic. Players were encouraged to behave accordingly. All true. Now, for better or worse, name me one top player who would do what Hikaru did.”

Commenting on the post, Checkmate organisers took a sarcastic dig at Sutovsky, saying, “On behalf of the organisers, 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.”

Reacting to the organiser’s post, Nakamura shared a series of laughing emojis.

Coming to the match, Nakamura and Gukesh started with a solid, good draw in which a bishop endgame played out. Then, in the five-minute game, Nakamura played the crowd with his opening move 1.b4. Initially gaining a nice space advantage on the queenside, he was gradually outplayed, and Gukesh was winning for quite some time.

This game was also decided in what was a horrendous time trouble for both players. There was not enough time to think clearly as the world champion blundered into a tactic related to his weak dark squares.

Gukesh ultimately allowed a mate in one right when he could have repeated moves for another draw, which would have resulted in a bullet game. Instead, Team USA achieved an astonishing 5-0 final score versus Team India. Once again rising to the occasion, Nakamura, after winning the game, took Gukesh’s king and threw it into the crowd.

Former world champion and Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik made a scathing attack on world no. 2 Nakamura, calling his behaviour a “childish, tasteless act.”

“I don’t know who came up with this childish, tasteless act. Likely this “thinker” had no specific intention to humiliate Gukesh, but could have realised that this public gesture (using opponent’s KING) looks offensive and provocative ESPECIALLY against the World Champion,” he posted on X.

–IANS

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