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A major chess star has responded to the backlash after fans were left in shock at what he did after winning a match.
This comes after grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was criticized online for the way he celebrated the win, with some saying that he ‘disrespected chess’.
After defeating Gukesh Dommaraju in a USA vs India event, Nakamura celebrated after the checkmate by throwing a king piece at spectators.
The moment took place on Sunday (October 5), when five of the best chess players in the US went head to head against five of India’s greatest players.
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However, when Nakamura beat his opponent, he shocked fans by hurling the king into the crowd.
Many people took to social media to share their own thoughts on the matter, with one user writing on Reddit: “Hikaru is a a dweeb for doing it and I found it stupid. But I'm not freaking out.”
Another said: “The real controversy is the poor chess fan who got pegged in the face because we all know us chess fans can't catch.”
A third person commented: “I swear, judging by some reactions, you'd think he'd thrown a hand grenade.”
And not everyone was concerned about the incident, with a fourth adding: “The comments are wild in this thread. You’d think Hikaru had done something remotely offensive. Just a bunch of pearl clutching.”
Now, Nakamura has spoken out himself after he responded to the event on his YouTube channel, saying: “This was one of the best in-person experiences I have had as someone who has been playing chess for a very long time.
“We are so used to celebrating our victories by ourselves. Chess can be such a lonely job, you don’t feel any validation for what you are doing. Even the Indian players, despite losing, had a great time.”
Nakamura went on to post a GIF from Gladiator that is captioned with, ‘are you not entertained?’ as well as reposting a video of his teammate saying that organizers of the event had encouraged them to have over-the-top celebrations.
And the event organizers themselves have also responded to the backlash, stating: “On behalf of the organizers, we admit having forced the players to have fun, to please the crowd, and to forgo the FIDE Etiquette.
“We sincerely apologize if the players, the live audience and the vast majority of online viewers had a good time.”
Nakamura reacted to this with a laughing emoji.
