Naroditsky Wins 21st Brawl, Closes In On Nakamura's All-Time Record

GM Daniel Naroditsky has moved one step closer to seizing the top spot on the all-time Bullet Brawl leaderboard after winning the latest edition ahead of GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Hikaru Nakamura, and 132 other titled players.

Now sitting on 21 victories, Naroditsky has won over $10,000 in prize money from Bullet Brawl tournaments since its inception and is just four wins shy of Nakamura's record of 25.

The $100 top women's prize was won by the prolific IM Meri Arabidze, who outpaced regulars FM Anastasia Avramidou and WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, while the community brawl was won by AiriChesslol.

The next Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Congrats to Danya on ANOTHER #BulletBrawl win! 🔥

He clinched the victory ahead of a strong field including Arjun and Hikaru to earn his 21st title! 💪 pic.twitter.com/UqgYMGCQpQ

— Chess.com (@chesscom) July 13, 2024

Naroditky's mastery of the arena format has never been in doubt but in 2024, the U.S.-based content creator has stepped it up a notch and learned how to frequently usurp the previously indomitable Nakamura. 

The aura stemming from Naroditsky's recent performances has transcended the Twittersphere and one chess fan (Steve Leibrock) has called for Bullet Brawl to be renamed "DanyaBrawl," though it has to be said that the best pun involving the eventual winner is still the self-titled "Danya Naroblitzky."

Naroditsky kicked off the event with a punchy, 19-move win over the world number-four Arjun on the white side of the Caro-Kann Defense, Fantasy Variation. Opting for a move-six pawn gambit, Naroditsky confused Arjun and capitalized on several consecutive mistakes.

GMs Emin Ohanyan, Tuan Minh Le, Andrew Tang, and IM-elect Faustino Oro were all opponents that Naroditsky had to face in his first 10 games, and he scored 8/10 against them, allowing him to stay just in front of Nakamura, who scored 7/10 against similar opposition.

The quality that seems to separate Naroditsky from his GM colleagues is his ability to procure more miniatures, and this is what allowed him to surge further ahead of his chasers.

In the first half of the event, he was able to produce six miniatures; two lasted just 13 moves (one was also finished in 11 but this was the result of a catastrophic blunder). The first of these, against French FM Tristan Breuil, features an aesthetically pleasing knight sacrifice.

In the second game, against Spanish CM Javier Ruiz Vasquez, Naroditsky showed that aggressive moves that would be considered suboptimal in classical chess can turn into wrecking balls in quicker time controls.

Before Bullet Brawl began, Naroditsky showed off just how quick he is in a match against NM James Chirilov while streaming on Twitch.

Arjun's second-placed finish was also impressive as he played nine fewer games than the winner. Earlier in the day, Arjun was announced as the board one for team India at the 45th Chess Olympiad alongside GMs Gukesh Dommaraju, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna.

With three of the world's top 10 on this team, expect it to contest the podium come September.

Because the Olympiad will see many of the world's top players unavailable for two of September's Bullet Brawls, we may see the emergence of new winners.

All-Time Leaderboard

Bullet Brawl is an exciting titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists and takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $1,000.

Much like Titled Tuesday and Arena Kings, Bullet Brawl often features top GMs, including Hikaru Nakamura, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!

Previous coverage:

• • Announcing Chess.com Community Bullet Brawl Tournaments
  • Introducing Bullet Brawls And New Arena Options