The normally staid world of chess has been divided over a flamboyant celebration by one of the game's leading players after he beat the current world champion.

World number two Hikaru Nakamura picked up Gukesh Dommaraju's king and threw the piece into the crowd after sealing a 5-0 whitewash for the United States over India at the Checkmate exhibition event in Arlington, Texas. Loading Twitter content

"If the future of chess is one where it’s acceptable behaviour to toss opponent’s pieces into the crowd, I'm not sure I want anything to do with it," Singaporean grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming said.

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik was even more scathing in his criticism, accusing Nakamura of "damaging our game".

"This is not just vulgarity, but a diagnosis of degradation of mo

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