Vladimir Kramnik, the former world champion, showed no mercy as he called out Hikaru Nakamura for “showing vulgarity” following his win over the current world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, in an exhibition event called Checkmate: USA vs India. After registering a thrilling victory, Nakamura threw Gukesh’s king into the crowd as he celebrated wildly, leaving even the Indian Grandmaster confused.
The clash between Gukesh and Nakamura was the final act of the five-match contest between some of India’s and the USA’s top stars. After the video went viral on social media, Levy Rozman, one of the world’s most famous YouTubers, claimed that the idea of tossing the king into the crowd was not Nakamura’s own; rather, it had come from the organisers.
However, Kramnik sees the incident in a totally different light, as he said that the gesture was “provocative against the current world champion”, Gukesh.
“This is not just vulgarity, but already a diagnosis of degradation of the modern chess,” Kramnik wrote in a post on X.
“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 realized that this public gesture (using opponent’s KING) looks offensive and provocative ESPECIALLY against the World Champion,” he added in another post.
The posts did not stop there, as a fan then pointed out that the move was pre-planned, and it was not Nakamura’s idea. To this, Kramnik shot back, saying, “Even worse if planned.”
In another response, he wrote, “Taking pants off would attract even more attention, if asked by organisers, should players do it therefore? It’s about inner ethics.”
Kevin Goh Wei Ming agrees
Singaporean Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming, who organised last year’s chess championship contest, where Gukesh was ultimately crowned the champion, agreed with Kramnik.
“If the future of chess is one where it’s acceptable behaviour to toss opponents’ pieces into the crowd, I’m not sure I want anything to do with it,” he wrote on X.
Earlier, Rozman had stated that the idea had come from the organisers. However, he also stated that he doesn’t know if Gukesh would have done the same had he won.
“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,” he said during a YouTube stream.
“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,” he added.
