Bortnyk Claims Gold Ahead Of 3 American Brawlers

Bullet Brawl's third most prolific winner, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, added a seventh title to his resume and won $400 after outlasting Chess.com hyperbullet champion GM Andrew Tang and 21-time Bullet Brawl winner GM Daniel Naroditsky on Saturday. 14-year-old IM Andy Woodward also challenged for the podium but settled for the $100 fourth prize.

Greece's FM Anastasia Avramidou was the top-performing women's player and won $100 for her efforts while Cesar Frank Talledo Lagos notched 75 wins to retain the Community Brawl title.

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Earlier in the week The New York Times predicted that the U.S. would win 110 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and like in the quadrennial spectacle, the U.S. is always well represented in online chess events. Naroditsky, Tang, Woodward, and GM Christopher Yoo led the charge for Team USA in Saturday's Bullet Brawl; however, none of these titans could keep up with Ukraine's Bortnyk.

Bortnyk established a firm lead in Saturday's event after scoring an electric 18.5/20 in the first quarter, and his run was only stopped due to a fateful pairing with the world number-four GM Arjun Erigaisi. GMs Gata Kamsky, Tang, and Jose Ibarra all fell at the feet of the eventual winner, and even Naroditsky could manage only a draw with Bortnyk. Naroditsky had two more opportunities to derail Bortnyk's momentum, but each ended in draws.

Arguably the most impressive of Bortnyk's games came in the second half, where he dispatched the 3009-rated IM Kacper Drozdowski in 11 moves and used a mere five seconds of his time! For those wondering how to replicate such a performance, the best chance is to play with 100-percent accuracy (which is easier said than done).

Bortnyk's ability to swoop on opportunities came to the fore on several other occasions, and this allowed him to keep his nose in front of Tang and Naroditsky.

See if you can find the problem with Black's 13...Nxe3??.

With Tang still tailing Bortnyk in the dying minutes of the arena, the Ukrainian pulled out all the stops to stay in front, even managing to flag back-to-back opponents in rook and king vs. rook and king endings. A six-point gap was all that stood between Bortnyk and Tang when the clock expired.

Meanwhile, in the community event, a similarly tight finish played out. Coincidentally, the first- and second-placed players paired in the final game of the event, and Lagos was able to convert a bishop and pawn ending which embellished his victory.

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