Christopher Yoo was put in check.
The 17-year-old chess grandmaster was arrested and expelled from the U.S. Chess Championship in St. Louis on Oct. 16 after hitting a woman when he lost a match to four-time champion Fabiano Caruana, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department told NBC News.
In a video shared to YouTube Oct. 17, Yoo was seen crumpling up his scoresheet, stuffing it in his pocket and storming out of the tournament hall following his loss. And while his exit wasn’t caught on camera, the Saint Louis Chess Club said in a statement that he proceeded to “strike a videographer from behind” on his way out.
“The Saint Louis Chess Club immediately provided assistance to the videographer,” the club’s statement shared to X (formerly Twitter) Oct. 16 continued, “and called the police who responded.”
And the tournament officials also took action against Yoo, who was charged with a misdemeanor of fourth-degree assault by authorities before being released back to one of his parents in accordance with the Juvenile Courts, officials told NBC News.
“Chief arbiter Chris Bird expelled Yoo from the tournament due to gross violations of our code of conduct and the U.S. chess safe play policy,” the Saint Louis Chess Club explained before noting that the organization “fully supports this decision and has banned Yoo from the club.”
