24 hours after successful his fifth Freestyle Friday, GM Hikaru Nakamura returned to Chess.com’s servers to seize his forty third Bullet Brawl title in a commanding vogue. Nakamura and GM Andrew Tang broke away from the 135-strong discipline on Saturday, nonetheless Nakamura was capable of end on 183, besting Tang by 12 factors.
Nakamura and Tang will obtain $400 and $250 for first and second place, respectively, whereas GM Sina Movahed and IM Yoseph Taher will obtain $150 and $100 for his or her podium finishes. The $100 finest girls’s prize was received by WFM Veronika Shubenkova, who scored 90 factors.
The subsequent version of Bullet Brawl will begin on Saturday, July 5, at midday ET/17:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Title | Score | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3315 | 183 | |
| 2 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3192 | 171 | |
| 3 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3030 | 134 | |
| 4 | IM | yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 3081 | 131 | |
| 5 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3123 | 130 | |
| 6 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3119 | 128 | |
| 7 | GM | DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3074 | 125 | |
| 8 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3094 | 124 | |
| 9 | GM | Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3106 | 124 | |
| 10 | GM | Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 3018 | 122 | |
| 11 | GM | Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2994 | 120 | |
| 12 | GM | amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3003 | 112 | |
| 13 | GM | ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 2963 | 111 | |
| 14 | GM | MetiForce | Mahdi Gholami Orimi | 2976 | 110 | |
| 15 | GM | KNVB | Aman Hambleton | 2876 | 109 | |
| 16 | IM | Boundless_Strike | Shamil Arslanov | 2893 | 108 | |
| 17 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 2999 | 107 | |
| 18 | IM | mbojan | Bojan Maksimovic | 2876 | 105 | |
| 19 | IM | blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2853 | 104 | |
| 20 | IM | ProfessorChess101 | Yichen Han | 2836 | 103 | |
(Full ultimate standings right here.)
In the course of the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Tour, Nakamura candidly expressed that he desires to “exit on prime” when he finally calls time on his enjoying profession. Whereas this was clearly a reference to his over the board profession, Nakamura’s current kind in on-line tournaments exhibits that he’s nonetheless top-of-the-line gamers on the earth, with no indicators of decline.
Saturday’s are for dominating at bullet 👌 @GMHikaru pic.twitter.com/APb7KbxGbI
— Chess.com (@chesscom) July 5, 2025
In Saturday’s brawl, a lowered discipline of 135 gamers meant that Nakamura performed his most harmful adversaries a number of instances. Naturally, streaks have been tougher to construct than in editions with extra individuals.
Early wins over GMs Amin Tabatabaei, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Parham Maghsoodloo marked a powerful begin for Nakamura, nonetheless, he was unable to interrupt away from the pack as a result of falling to GM Haik Martirosyan in a recreation the place anarchy reigned supreme.
Quickly after, Nakamura posted a 15-game streak, which ended with a trio of wins over 3000+ rated GMs Sanan Sjugirov, Haowen Xue, and Martirosyan. His conversion towards Hungarian middlegame maestro Sjugirov was significantly scientific.
Within the very subsequent recreation, Nakamura capitalized on Xue’s misguided 43…Re8?? with a puzzleworthy, one-mover. See in case you can spot the successful transfer beneath.
Following the streak, Nakamura continued to identify artful methods to win video games, together with in a conflict with Indian GM Narayanan S.L. the place he left his queen en prise and prompted his opponent’s resignation as a result of risk of checkmate.
Athough Nakamura’s tactical consciousness helped him preserve his nostril in entrance, Tang stayed inside contact of the lead all through. The crux of Nakamura’s efficiency was his 6/9 rating towards Tang, which prevented his rival from mounting a final ditch comeback.
The fifth recreation between the pair was arguably crucial—Nakamura held his nerve and duly transformed after each kings grew to become uncovered within the late-middlegame.
With this being his ninth win of 2025, Nakamura’s victories on this calendar yr would place him fifth on the all-time leaderboard, with double the wins of the sixth-placed GM Jose Martinez.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Participant | All-Time Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 43 | 9 | 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 way to assessment video games?
The video games from this week’s Bullet Brawl might be discovered right here.
Bullet Brawl is an thrilling enviornment that includes Chess.com’s prime bullet specialists. It takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour enviornment 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!
Earlier protection:
