Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura stunned World Champion D Gukesh as India were whitewashed 0-5 by the USA in the first Checkmate event in Arlington, United States. However, the Japan-born American chess star sparked a massive controversy with his post-match gesture. Nakamura, playing with white pieces, tossed Gukesh’s king into the crowd moments after sealing the win for the USA. The act sparked mixed reactions on social media, with many calling his celebration unnecessary and disrespectful. A video of Nakamura’s act quickly went viral on social media.
On the contrary, Gukesh was seen rearranging the pieces, a move that earned him praise from the global chess community.
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
“I was winning, the crowd knew I was winning, so I was really happy to hear all the noise!” said Nakamura after beating Gukesh.
While the match had many tense moments and players from both teams created winning chances, the USA rose up to the occasion and scored several clutch wins.
Playing with black pieces, the Indians suffered a rough loss and would look to bounce back with white pieces in the return match in the second leg in India.
While Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi lost to Fabiano Caruana, Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh suffered a shock defeat at the hands of International Master Carissa Yip.
International Master Levy Rozman then defeated Sagar Shah, and chess prodigy Ethan Vaz lost to International Master Tani Adewumi.
“The second game was exactly what we want to see, which is chaos, nonsense,” said International Master Levy Rozman.
Indian players will have the white pieces in the return leg of the event at home, which will be played in India.
There were some new rules in place for this event.
According to Chess.com, the organizers decided to get rid of not just draw offers (which we are kind of used to) but also resignations (wait, what?). Games had to be played out until checkmate (or flagging) or until bare kings or otherwise theoretically drawn positions.
(With PTI Inputs)