The USA dominated the opening leg of the 'Checkmate' event, defeating India 5-0 in a high-voltage chess spectacle held in Arlington, but it was Hikaru Nakamura’s post-match gesture that stole the spotlight and divided opinion on social media. Facing world champion D Gukesh in the headline game, Nakamura, ranked World No. 2 with a FIDE rating of 2816, produced a clinical performance to outplay the 19-year-old Indian prodigy. The Americans displayed composure under pressure to sweep the tie, while India, playing with black pieces, struggled to find rhythm across the boards. Alongside Nakamura’s win over Gukesh, Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi went down to Fabiano Caruana, Divya Deshmukh was upset by Carissa Yip, International Master Levy Rozman defeated Sagar Shah, and young Ethan Vaz lost

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