Bullet Brawl Might 10, 2025: Nakamura Posts 36 Sport Unbeaten Streak, Captures thirty ninth Title

The all-time main Bullet Brawl title winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura, returned to the highest of the standings on Saturday and gained the $400 first prize, successful 66 video games, drawing six, and dropping 5. Nakamura’s rating of 242 noticed him end forward of fellow American GMs Andrew Tang, Sam Sevian, and Daniel Naroditsky, who comprised the rostrum and gained $250, $150, and $100, respectively. 

IM Meri Arabidze was the top-performing ladies’s participant in Saturday’s area—she receives $100 for her rating of 103. Sundram Kumar continues to cement his Group Bullet Brawl legacy with after securing one other victory within the open occasion. 

The following version of Bullet Brawl will start on Saturday, Might 17, at midday ET/17:00 CEST.

Standings

(Full closing standings right here.)

The sphere for Might’s second Bullet Brawl overflowed with 224 titled gamers and a horde of GMs, together with the aforementioned People, Ediz Gurel, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and the newly minted Haowen Xue. 11-year-old Argentinian prodigy IM Faustino Oro additionally joined the fray and completed in a good seventh place, 4 factors behind the 12-time winner Bortnyk.

Tang bought off to a flying begin, successful 12/13 of his opening video games. After 55 minutes, he held an 18-point lead over his nearest competitor, Nakamura. Very like in earlier successful runs this 12 months, Tang prioritized tempo and aggression, however did not draw back from displaying off his pinpoint opening understanding.

In opposition to IM Gianmarco Leiva, Tang carried out a theoretical change sacrifice within the Heart Sport that orchestrated a transition right into a superior middlegame.

A 19-move victory over Gurel was maybe essentially the most spectacular feat registered by Tang on this interval. When Gurel erred with 17…Ne4? whereas dealing with Tang’s London-turned-Stonewall Assault, Tang rapidly ended the sport with a piece-winning tactic.

Nakamura, Bortnyk, and Oro have been the principle gamers who stored tempo with Tang. On the midway level, the chief’s fortune turned when he suffered back-to-back losses to Oro and Xue.

Sensing the chance, Nakamura rose, displaying that he’s nonetheless the participant to beat in Bullet Brawl. Regardless of early blips by the hands of NM Shelev Oberoi, Tang, Gurel, and FM Allahverdi Hamidov, prolonged streaks helped preserve the world number-two’s hopes alive. 

With a robust 53/56 rating within the second half, with solely a single loss to Iranian GM Mahdi Gholami Orimi, Nakamura leapfrogged Tang and defeated Bortnyk, Oro (thrice), Ibarra, Naroditsky, and Sevian (two instances) alongside the way in which. In a 22-move scorcher towards Sevian, Nakamura chalked up two sensible strikes after his opponent pinched two pawns.

The clincher for Nakamura was a late showdown with Tang. The eventual winner was on the receiving finish of some flashy attacking play however weathered the storm. Following this, Nakamura went on to win the ultimate 20 video games of the occasion.

On Might 25, Norway Chess 2025 will start, and Nakamura will face GMs Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh Dommaraju, and Wei Yi in one of many strongest classical tournaments of the 12 months. All indicators level to Nakamura as soon as once more proving that his on-line kind interprets to high quality play over the board.

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