Explained: Why Nakamura threw Gukesh’s king into the crowd at Checkmate: USA vs India

Hikaru Nakamura celebrating the victory over D Gukesh by tossing the Indian Grandmaster’s king into the crowd was not just showboating but a carefully crafted strategy by the organisers to attract the attention of the chess fans.

The ‘Checkmate: USA vs India’ organisers brought together the best chess players from two of the top chess-playing nations in an exhibition event on Saturday in Texas and they also decided to change a lot of things about how a chess tournament is treated. This was nothing like the usual mundane chess tournaments where players turn up in suits and boots.

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Here, they had team jerseys and took the stage for their matches amid WWE-style announcements. There was an official overseeing the match in a referee uniform, and players were asked to celebrate extravagantly.

Why Nakamura tossed Gukesh’s King into the crowd?

Tossing the king into the crowd was just one of the suggestions; the other included crushing the king of the opponent and so on.  Popular chess content creator, Levy Rozman, who is known by the name Gotham Chess on YouTube, was also a part of the event, and he has revealed that it was the organisers who asked Nakamura to throw Gukesh’s king to fans if he wins the match.

“Without context, it will look like an unprovoked gesture. But we were encouraged by the organisers to do that stuff. 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 and Hikaru’s game was supposed to toss the king into the fans. I don’t know if Gukesh would have done that. Hikaru spoke to Gukesh later and explained that it was all for show and no disrespect was meant,” Rozman said.

HIKARU THROWS A PIECE TO THE CROWD TO CELEBRATE THE USA 5-0! @GMHikaru

What an event!! 🔥👏 @CheckmateUSAIND pic.twitter.com/LGnM8JLulJ

— Chess.com (@chesscom) October 5, 2025

Jules Gambit, the co-host of the event and popular chess streamer, shared a similar argument on social media as she underlined that it was unfair to compare the event to regular chess competitions.

“I was there at the players meeting and they were all told to have fun with it, trash talk, take the king if there’s an illegal move, celebrate by crushing the king etc. Everyone was laughing and joking around. The rules aren’t the same as in traditional chess because it’s an exhibition for entertainment not a rated match. It’s like comparing WWE to Olympic wrestling,” she wrote on X.

I was there at the players meeting and they were all told to have fun with it, trash talk, take the king if there’s an illegal move, celebrate by crushing the king etc. Everyone was laughing and joking around. The rules aren’t the same as in traditional chess because it’s an… https://t.co/oucpZtks5s

— Julesgambit (@julesgambit) October 5, 2025

Nonetheless, Nakamura has been facing a lot of criticism on social media by Indian fans, who have accused the world No 2 from the USA of disrespecting world champion Gukesh.

The Indian chess prodigy will have his chance to exact revenge when they meet again in India for the second leg of the tournament.