Magnus Carlsen’s coach Peter Heine Nielsen has defended Hikaru Nakamura throwing Gukesh’s king into the fans after defeating the world champion in an exhibition game in the USA. Nakamura came under heavy criticism from many former players, including ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik and current FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky about throwing the piece after the win at an exhibition clash called Checkmate: USA vs India.

But Carlsen’s coach Nielsen, while reacting to a video of Nakamura throwing the king in the air, noted: “There are a lot of things elderly conservative chess-guys like myself find hard to accept. But at least we should agree this makes chess look like a sporting event. Spectators at the venue who care. Teammates who act like teammates in a sport. Players celebrating when they win.”

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