Hikaru Nakamura throws D Gukesh’s King: Celebration, disrespect or intolerance? [Opinion Piece]

Sportsmanship is displayed in many ways. Every player has their own way to celebrate a victory or express a loss: Whether it’s excitement or a breakdown. However, there are instances where certain players overstep the boundaries, resulting in disrespect towards their opponent. Something similar has again happened with India’s teenage world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. D Gukesh recently played at an event in Checkmate: USA vs India, and his opponent was Hikaru Nakamura.

After defeating D Gukesh, Hikaru Nakamura did something that doesn’t show true respect for the game. Hikaru threw Gukesh’s king into the crowd to express his win. The Indian player was baffled to see this reaction but kept calm, despite the frenzy from the other side.

This act raises an important question: Was it a genuine reaction of joy or meant to provoke Gukesh? Earlier, Magnus Carlsen expressed his disappointment over Gukesh’s defeat and ended up slamming his fist onto the table. Even then, Gukesh maintained his calm, although he was taken aback.

Considering the rising intolerance worldwide and the surge in racism and xenophobia, it also leaves one wondering: Did Hikaru Nakamura react this way only because Gukesh Dommaraju is Indian? Would Hikaru or Magnus showcase the same extreme reactions if they were playing against Germany’s Vincent Keymer or the UK’s Gawain Jones? As a viewer and as an Indian, Hikaru’s reaction does come across less as professionalism and more as hostility. But only he can speak up about this, about exactly what his intentions were.

The internet is quite disappointed with Hikaru Nakamura’s behaviour. Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik has strongly criticised Hikaru’s “vulgar” behaviour in his latest post on X. Kramnik shared the video on the page and wrote, “This is not just vulgarity, but already a diagnosis of degradation of the modern chess.”

Vladimir Kramnik further wrote, “There are players which show respect and mature gentleman behaviour, many prominent players in fact (Wesley So, Gukesh himself, and many others).” He added, “Promoting for years the player known for his awful behaviour instead, deliberate action, damaging our game in my opinion. 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.”

Alex Colovic posted, “Please don’t throw chess pieces.”  A user replied to Alex that it was all forthe show and the organisers told Hikaru to do the same. Alex responded, “You can be told to jump off a cliff, just for the show, and decide not to do it. Just because it is “for the show” doesn’t mean it is good.”

Singaporean chess grandmaster Kevin Gog Wei Ming also slammed Hikaru’s behaviour and wrote, “If the future of chess is one where it’s acceptable behaviour to toss opponent’s pieces into the crowd, I’m not sure I want anything to do with it.”

There exists a subtle boundary between charisma and cringe. Whether it’s a thrown king or a slammed racket or a broken bat, such reactions tend to become performative. What shows true fair play is respect: for the game and for the opponent as well. There are always better ways to celebrate, but what about respect? It never goes out of style.