GM Hikaru Nakamura prevailed in a showdown with world number-seven GM Alireza Firouzja throughout Saturday’s Bullet Brawl, incomes himself the $400 first prize and his forty first title. Nakamura scored 70 wins, 4 losses, and a string of attracts on the tail finish of the sector to complete with a rating of 264, 5 factors forward of Firouzja.
GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Jose Martinez received $150 and $100 for his or her third and fourth-place finishes, respectively, and Iranian WIM Mitra Asgharzadeh captured the $100 greatest ladies’s prize forward of IM Maka Purtseladze.
The subsequent version of Bullet Brawl will start on Saturday, June 14, at midday ET/17:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Identify | Ranking | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3305 | 264 | |
| 2 | GM | Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3265 | 259 | |
| 3 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3225 | 210 | |
| 4 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3219 | 202 | |
| 5 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3183 | 181 | |
| 6 | GM | gurelediz | Ediz Gurel | 3180 | 179 | |
| 7 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3133 | 178 | |
| 8 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3162 | 177 | |
| 9 | GM | crescentmoon2411 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2957 | 132 | |
| 10 | GM | Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3040 | 130 | |
| 11 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3047 | 128 | |
| 12 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3046 | 128 | |
| 13 | FM | CMmauricio | Mauricio Ramirez | 2858 | 125 | |
| 14 | GM | hansen | Eric Hansen | 3029 | 124 | |
| 15 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 2994 | 119 | |
| 16 | FM | ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 2962 | 113 | |
| 17 | FM | NovozhilovSemen | Semen Novozhilov | 2785 | 112 | |
| 18 | FM | TrimitziosP7 | Petros Trimitzios | 2924 | 112 | |
| 19 | GM | artooon | Pranesh M | 3053 | 111 | |
| 20 | IM | CaptainCasanova | Sebastian Mihajlov | 2852 | 110 | |
(Full last standings right here.)
June’s first Bullet Brawl attracted 211 titled gamers and was one of many strongest occasions in latest occasions, mainly because of the participation of two of the world’s top-10 gamers, Nakamura and Firouzja. The very best-scoring non-GM, IM Kacper Drozdowski (who boasts a Chess.com bullet score of 3046), got here in twelfth.
Iran’s and Canada’s greatest chess gamers, GMs Parham Maghsoodloo and Chessbrah Eric Hansen, additionally joined the fray however did not breach the 200-point barrier.
An electrical 21-game successful streak marked the proper begin for Firouzja, and GMs Bortnyk, Nakamura, Hansen, Andrew Tang, and Emin Ohanyan all fell on the toes of the Frenchman throughout his rampage. Firouzja’s sport towards Nakamura was significantly putting—he made brief work of his opponent’s often stable Nimzowitsch-Larsen Assault and completed the sport with 46 seconds left on the clock.
Firouzja and Nakamura performed on only one different event on this week’s brawl; nonetheless, because the midway mark drew close to they usually established themselves because the frontrunners, an oblique showdown ensued.
Nakamura responded to early setbacks in model, notching a 30-game win streak that brimmed with tactical thrives.
In opposition to compatriot and NM Paul Rohwer, Nakamura employed a traditional f5-pawn break in his pet Grand Prix Assault and adopted up with a surgical knight sacrifice. Though his play wasn’t flawless, Nakamura heaped sufficient stress on Rohwer to acquire a decisive blunder.
In one other sport, Nakamura discovered the quickest strategy to power checkmate, saving himself treasured seconds within the race towards Firouzja.
Finally, a loss to Tang did snap Nakamura’s streak, however this was only a blip on the 41-time winner’s scorecard. The American posted a second unbeaten streak of greater than 30 strikes, permitting him to surge previous Firouzja, who suffered losses by the hands of GMs Haowen Xue, Ohanyan, and Bortnyk.
Nakamura’s guile and pragmatism in dicey positions got here to the fore throughout this streak, similar to in his sport towards 15-year-old FM Semen Novozhilov. Dealing with a two-pawn deficit, Nakamura pounced when his opponent erred with 26…Rf8??. See if you happen to can spot Nakamura’s trick to reverse the fabric shortfall.
To safe victory, Nakamura performed solidly and drew his last three video games of the sector, including sufficient factors to his whole to make sure that Firouzja couldn’t catch him. Although Firouzja has received only one version of Bullet Brawl, he stays one of many hardest opponents for Nakamura to beat. With common participation, he would undoubtedly climb larger on the all-time leaderboard.
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 | 10 | 6 | 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 |
| Nihal Sarin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Reza Mahdavi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Alireza Firouzja | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Tuan Minh Le | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Yoseph Taher | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The best way to evaluation video games?
The video games from this week’s Bullet Brawl may be discovered right here.
Bullet Brawl is an thrilling enviornment that includes Chess.com’s high 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 high GMs, together with Hikaru Nakamura, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and plenty of extra!
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