Degradation of modern chess: Vladimir Kramnik slams Hikaru Nakamura for tossing D Gukesh’s king into crowd

Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik blasted Hikaru Nakamura for his controversial act after defeating India’s D Gukesh in the bullet clash during the Checkmate event. The 23-year-old American Grandmaster made headlines after he threw away Gukesh’s king into the crowd after a victory in the bullet round to guide USA to 5-0 win over India.

After his aggressive celebration, there have been several reactions on social media from some popular names in the chess fraternity. Now, Vladimir Kramnik has also called out the 23-year-old for his act and called it a vulgar act. “This is not just vulgarity, but already a diagnosis of degradation of the modern chess,” Kramnik wrote on X.

No disrespect was meant: Hikaru Nakamura reveals reason for tossing Gukesh’s king into the crowd

Hikaru Nakamura also broke silence on his act and revealed that the winner

was supposed to throw the king into the crowd and it was only for entertainment and no disrespect was meant by him.

“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," Hikaru was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

"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. I spoke to Gukesh later and explained that it was all for show and no disrespect was meant,” he further added.