Why Hikaru Nakamura threw D Gukesh's king into crowd after defeating him at Checkmate event? Here's the real reason

After defeating D Gukesh at the Checkmate: USA vs India chess event in Texas, the gesture of Hikaru Nakamura made headlines on social media. Nakamura threw Gukesh's king into the crowd after defeating him, which left chess fanatics fuming on social media. Amid criticism on social media, some reports are now claiming that tossing Gukesh's king into the crowd was planned by the organisers.

Why did Nakamura throw Gukesh's king into the crowd?

''Without context, it will look like an unprovoked gesture. However, we were encouraged by the organisers to do that. I forgot that if I won my game against ChessBase India's Sagar Shah, or he won, we were supposed to break the king. It was for the entertainment angle. The winner of Gukesh's and Hikaru's game was supposed to toss the king into the fans. I'm not sure if Gukesh would have done that. Hikaru spoke to Gukesh later and explained that it was all for show and no disrespect was meant,'' chess expert Levy Rozman said in a YouTube video.

Calling it one of the best in-person experiences, Nakamura on his YouTube channel said, ''This was one of the best in-person experiences I have had as someone who has been playing chess for a very long time. We are so accustomed to celebrating our victories on our own... chess can be such a lonely job; you don't feel any validation for what you are doing. Even the Indian players, despite losing, had a great time. So, this event exceeded my expectations.''

On the other hand, Russian chess star Vladimir Kramnik was among the most vocal critics of the act and said, ''This is not just vulgarity, but already a diagnosis of the degradation of modern chess. There are players who show respect and mature gentlemanly behaviour, many prominent players in fact (Wesley So, Gukesh himself, and many others). Promoting for years the player known for his awful behaviour, instead of a deliberate action, is damaging our game in my opinion.''