A dramatic showdown between GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Hikaru Nakamura throughout Saturday’s Bullet Brawl culminated in Firouzja edging out Nakamura on tiebreaks, marking the primary time in historical past that first has been determined this manner.
Firouzja led for many of the occasion however was finally caught by Nakamura on 165 factors. Nonetheless, one additional win secured his second Bullet Brawl title and the $400 first prize. Nakamura gained $250 for second place.
GMs Ediz Gurel and Andrew Tang will obtain $150 and $100 for third and fourth, whereas FM Anastasia Avramidou earned the $100 finest ladies’s prize after edging out IM Karina Ambartsumova on tiebreaks.
The subsequent version of Bullet Brawl will start on Saturday, June 28, at midday ET/17:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Title | Ranking | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3276 | 165 | |
| 2 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3323 | 165 | |
| 3 | GM | gurelediz | Ediz Gurel | 3168 | 140 | |
| 4 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3208 | 132 | |
| 5 | GM | Konavets | Sam Sevian | 3122 | 129 | |
| 6 | GM | Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3149 | 126 | |
| 7 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3179 | 124 | |
| 8 | IM | PiliposyanRobertChess | Robert Piliposyan | 3080 | 122 | |
| 9 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3109 | 119 | |
| 10 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3095 | 119 | |
| 11 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3152 | 118 | |
| 12 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3111 | 116 | |
| 13 | IM | Mykola-Bortnyk | Mykola Bortnyk | 3044 | 115 | |
| 14 | GM | ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 3020 | 115 | |
| 15 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3092 | 114 | |
| 16 | GM | Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 3144 | 114 | |
| 17 | GM | Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 3002 | 112 | |
| 18 | GM | rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2990 | 110 | |
| 19 | GM | Salem-AR | Salem AR Saleh | 3041 | 108 | |
| 20 | GM | Twitch_ElhamBlitz05 | Elham Amar | 3024 | 108 | |
(Full closing standings right here.)
Saturday’s Bullet Brawl featured extra top-flight gamers than in any earlier version, and 19 of the top-20 locations have been acquired by gamers rated over 3000 in bullet time controls. The 41-time winner Nakamura and the five-time classical world champion GM Magnus Carlsen spearheaded the sphere, and so they have been joined by a bunch of different prime gamers, together with GMs Firouzja, Sam Sevian, Parham Maghsoodloo, and Dmitry Andreikin.
Bullet juggernauts equivalent to GMs Tang, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Jose Martinez additionally joined the fray alongside famed prodigies, Gurel and IM Faustino Oro. Saturday’s lineup was so robust that amassing prolonged streaks turned anomalous, and consequently, the profitable rating of 165 was a report low.
Losses to Carlsen and Tang value Firouzja a quick begin, however this was shortly forgotten due to a 12-game streak that adopted. The French consultant shocked a bunch of illustrious GMs throughout this era together with Aman Hambleton, Jose Cardoso, Sevian, Rasmus Svane, and Nakamura (twice).
Firouzja and Nakamura’s second sport was the cleaner of their video games, and after each gamers castled queenside, Firouzja lured Nakamura into opening the c-file with 26.c4!?, resulting in the publicity of his opponent’s king.
Chessbrah’s Hambleton put up agency resistance towards Firouzja and located himself up a pawn. Nonetheless, he was quickly surprised by a well timed alternate sacrifice which quickly ended the sport.
By the tip of the primary half, Firouzja possessed a wholesome lead, although an absence of streaks meant that the same old suspects like Nakamura and Tang have been capable of keep in contact. Carlsen proved to be a thorn in Firouzja’s facet and scored 2/3 towards the eventual winner, though Firouzja’s win was essential when it comes to the leaderboard.
Having been outplayed by Carlsen in a middlegame stemming from the Sicilian Protection: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Assault, Firouzja survived a superb transfer and defended valiantly till Carlsen slipped with 50…Re1??.
A patchy interval in the beginning of the second half severely dented Nakamura’s likelihood of claiming his forty second title; nevertheless, the American as soon as once more proved which you could by no means depend him out. Whereas Firouzja faltered within the final quarter, Nakamura arrange for a dash end after setting up back-to-back 17- and seven-game unbeaten streaks.
Martinez, Carlsen, Maghsoodloo, Sevian, Gurel, GM Tuan Minh Le, and Firouzja have been put to the sword by Nakamura—his two wins towards the latter helped him end equal-first on factors.
Ultimately, Firouzja’s 49 wins in comparison with Nakamura’s 48 resulted within the now-22-year-old being declared the winner of this week’s brawl by the smallest attainable margin. Firouzja now sits in shared seventh on the all-time leaderboard and will likely be a pressure to be reckoned with when he makes an attempt to defend his title within the forthcoming 2025 Chess.com Bullet Chess Championship.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Participant | All-Time Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 41 | 7 | 19 | 15 |
| Daniel Naroditsky | 28 | 4 | 14 | 10 |
| Oleksandr Bortnyk | 12 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| Andrew Tang | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Ediz Gurel | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Sam Sevian | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Yagiz Erdogmus | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nihal Sarin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Reza Mahdavi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tuan Minh Le | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Yoseph Taher | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The right way to evaluate video games?
The video games from this week’s Bullet Brawl will be discovered right here.
Bullet Brawl is an thrilling area that includes Chess.com’s prime bullet specialists. It takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour area with a 1+0 time management; the prize fund is $1,000. Like Titled Tuesday and Area Kings, Bullet Brawl usually options prime GMs, together with Hikaru Nakamura, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and lots of extra!
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