Hikaru Nakamura has defended himself against withering criticism from a few former players and fans on social media for tossing D Gukesh’s king into the crowd after defeating the world champion in an exhibition game in the USA called Checkmate: USA vs India. Nakamura has also gone ahead and suggested a unique way, like dancing on Bollywood music, for Gukesh to celebrate if the Indian beat Nakamura in a reverse game in India, scheduled for later in the year. Even though Gukesh is yet to speak out about the incident, Nakamura has come under considerable criticism from Indian fans, who have accused him of disrespecting the game and Gukesh. In the days since the controversy, it has emerged that it was the event organisers. who had suggested to the players to do things like throwing the king into the fans or even breaking a king if they win, just to make it look like a sports event and entertain the fans. Nakamura said that no player would ever do such a thing in a serious chess tournament. ALSO READ | ‘No disrespect’: Story behind Hikaru Nakamura tossing Gukesh’s king at fans after checkmating world champion "It was not an insult. If it were a serious event, like the Candidates, of course you would never do such a thing. Nobody would! It doesn't matter if it was Magnus Carlsen, Hans Niemann, Anish Giri, or me. But this was a purely entertainment event," Nakamura said in a video on his YouTube stream. In the video, Nakamura also explained why he had thrown the king underhand to avoid hurting anyone. He said he was a southpaw who had played a bit of baseball as a kid before switching to chess. WATCH: Hikaru Nakamura throws Gukesh's king into crowd "Because of the way the king is shaped, I could not really throw the king like a baseball. If the king were like a baseball, I would have probably thrown it halfway deep. But with the king, I could have actually hurt someone. And there was no other way to give it to the fans. unless I was going to walk and hand it over." Nakamura then gave a celebration suggestion for Gukesh if he wins the second battle of Checkmate: USA vs India, if it happens in India later in the year, as the organisers have planned. "Assuming we go to India and play a match in India. I would tell you what Gukesh should do if he wins. He should just stand up, they should queue up the Bollywood music, and he should start dancing or something. He should start dancing on the chessboard in front of me. Something like that. And that would not insult me. That would be no insult whatsoever," Nakamura said. WATCH: Levy Rozman discusses the match against Gukesh
