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Nakamura Posts 23-Game Streak, Completes Bullet Brawl Hat Trick
Nakamura has won 32 of the 77 editions of Bullet Brawl since January 2023. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Nakamura Posts 23-Game Streak, Completes Bullet Brawl Hat Trick

JackRodgers
| 20 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Hikaru Nakamura has captured another Bullet Brawl after scoring 71.5/77—which includes a 23-game winning streak—and finishing ahead of the second and third-placed GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Tuan Minh Le. With a winning margin of 55 points, Nakamura is the winner of the $400 first prize and has now won the event a record 32 times. The win on Saturday is his third in a row.

The $100 top women's prize went to Georgian IM Meri Arabidze, who defeated several 3000+ rated players including GM Arjun Erigaisi on her way to victory, while Sundram Kumar won the community event with a score of 275.

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Number Fed Title Username Name Rating Score
1 GM Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3297 265
2 GM Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3221 210
3 GM wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 3177 196
4 GM gurelediz EdizGurel 3138 172
5 GM Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3115 171
6 IM yosephtaher Yoseph Theolifus Taher 3035 165
7 GM dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3073 141
8 GM rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2982 139
9 GM DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 2983 136
10 GM OhanyanEminChess Emin Ohanyan 3026 135
11 GM FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3009 132
12 GM Nitzan_Steinberg Nitzan Steinberg 2949 131
13 GM mitrabhaa Mitrabha Guha 2941 128
14 IM Kacparov Kacper Drozdowski 2955 117
15 FM GoltsevDmitry2000 Goltsev Dmitry 2906 110
16 FM IMchanged Felix Ilinca 2952 109
17 FM luckyswitchback Daniil Plyasunov 2858 109
18 IM Kosak12 Jakub Kosakowski 2906 109
19 GM LionTheLeon_06 Leon Luke Mendonca 2875 106
20 GM vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 2953 105
(Full final standings here)

In early 2023 GM Magnus Carlsen labeled himself as "the final boss of chess" and while he has backed this up for over a decade in innumerable events, Nakamura's 32 titles give him every right to claim the title of Bullet Brawl's final boss.

Saturday's field was bustling with players rated over 3000. The top entrants included former rapid world championship runner-up GM Dmitry Andreikin, the "Messi of Chess" IM Faustino Oro, and the current world number-four Arjun. GM Daniel Naroditsky also played in this week's event but was relegated to a ninth-place finish, a testament to the strength of the field.

Touted as a potential future world champion, Oro finished 26th in Saturday's Bullet Brawl. Photo: Federico Marin Bellon.

A sluggish start saw Nakamura drop his first game against Vietnamese WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram before he kicked into gear and won seven straight.

Impressively, the American defeated three GMs in a row during this streak: Alan Pichot, Arjun, and Emin Ohanyan, before drawing with GM Leon Luke Mendonca. The four collectively boast an average FIDE rating of 2645.

Beating three 3000+ bullet players in a row is a challenge even for the likes of Nakamura.

Though his start was strong, the last half of the event is where Nakamura really took control, and in his final 46 games he lost just one—at the hands of Le. An 18-move win over the former European chess champion, GM Matthias Bluebaum, is one of many highlights for Nakamura as he coasted toward his 32nd title.

In the game below, Nakamura focused on hunting down the enemy king, even if it cost him material. See if you can spot the checkmate he found. Hint: Leave your bishop en prise!

One of the shining stars of Saturday's brawl was the women's prize-winner Arabidze, who managed to outscramble Arjun and flag him with 0.4 seconds left on her clock. Early in the game, she found two brilliant moves that would have been enough to dispatch most players; however, Arjun flipped the script with resourceful defense.

Arabidze more than held her own against Arjun as their duel went down to the wire. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Soon after, Arabidze found herself on the back foot and had to rely on intuition and mouse speed to keep herself in the game.

With his latest victory, Nakamura has now won 32 of the 77 Bullet Brawls since the format's inception, which is about 41.6 percent of all editions. Considering that 120 to 150 titled players vie for the title each week, Nakamura's hit rate is extraordinary.

All-Time Leaderboard

*Nakamura's 32nd victory will be added shortly.

How to review games?
The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.

 



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:

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