GM Arjun Erigaisi has rocketed up Bullet Brawl‘s all-time leaderboard after fending off GM Oleksander Bortnyk and notching his second straight $400 victory on Saturday. With Bortnyk breathing down his neck for most of the arena, Arjun held his nerve and posted a score of 163 points, four more than his rival, who had to settle for the $250 second prize.
GMs Emin Ohanyan and Tuan Minh Le will receive $150 and $100 for finishing third and fourth, while WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya picked up the $100 best women’s prize for her sensational 12th placed finish.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, May 2, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | GM | GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3323 | 163 | 11 | |
| 2 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3283 | 159 | 8 | |
| 3 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3204 | 143 | 9 | |
| 4 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3225 | 142 | 6 | |
| 5 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3234 | 132 | 6 | |
| 6 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3205 | 131 | 8 | |
| 7 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3184 | 130 | 7 | |
| 8 | FM | ShadowKing71 | James Chirilov | 3074 | 127 | 5 | |
| 9 | FM | yavrukurt40 | Dincer Tasdogen | 3128 | 126 | 10 | |
| 10 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3121 | 121 | 8 | |
| 11 | GM | ChessSharkz | Kayden Troff | 3101 | 117 | 5 | |
| 12 | WGM | Sanyura | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | 2945 | 115 | 7 | |
| 13 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3081 | 114 | 8 | |
| 14 | FM | chess_master_8820 | Radin Yadegar | 3051 | 112 | 7 | |
| 15 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3156 | 111 | 5 | |
| 16 | IM | Boundless_Strike | Shamil Arslanov | 2928 | 108 | 6 | |
| 17 | WIM | crazy_m_attack | Melika Mohammadi | 2881 | 108 | 5 | |
| 18 | GM | TheBigBoss04 | Jose Gabriel Cardoso | 2989 | 107 | 7 | |
| 19 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 3006 | 106 | 7 | |
| 20 | FM | TheRabbit19 | Andrei Negrean | 2882 | 105 | 5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Until February, a Bullet Brawl victory had eluded Arjun, despite him being one of the most prolific podium placegetters in the event’s history. Two months on from his first title, it is safe to say that the curse has been lifted. Now, with three titles to his name, Arjun sits in equal seventh on the all-time leaderboard.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2026 Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 54 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 15 |
| GM Daniel Naroditsky | 32 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 10 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 16 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 15 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IM Renato Terry | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Yagiz Erdogmus | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Nihal Sarin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GM Jeffery Xiong | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Sam Sevian | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Matthias Bluebaum | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Tuan Minh Le | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Yoseph Taher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Reza Mahdavi | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
In Saturday’s event, Arjun entered with the highest rating, but was shadowed by a swarm of 3000+ bullet merchants, including GMs Haowen Xue, Jose Martinez, David Paravyan, and Kayden Troff, IMs Faustino Oro, Reza Mahdavi, and Renato Terry, FMs James Chirilov and Dincer Tasdogen, as well as the aforementioned podium finishers.
Ohanyan had the strongest start of the group, winning his first nine games with ample flair. Against Terry, Ohanyan threw down the gauntlet with 38…Nxg2!! and delivered checkmate five moves later.
Four games later, the Armenian’s stay at the top would be called into question after his queen ventured into no-mans-land and was trapped by the ever-opportunistic Martinez.
Two games later, Bortnyk rubbed salt in Ohanyan’s wounds with an 11-move win. Although Ohanyan clung to the lead for the rest of the first half, his rhythm was stifled, and multi-time winners, Bortnyk and Arjun, came knocking.
Before long, the pair broke away from the pack, and the only thing that separated them was the lopsided 4.5-2.5 score in favor of Arjun in their head-to-head duels.
The first of their clashes, which saw the Indian GM withstand Bortnyk’s Jobava-Rapport London System and outplay him in a rook and pawn ending, set the tone for subsequent meetings.
Arjun also won his final showdown with Bortnyk in the penultimate game of a tournament-winning 11-game streak. In this game, Arjun castled queenside in the opening, reasoning that Bortnyk’s king was less safe than his.
In an endorsement of Arjun’s evaluation, Bortnyk gambited a pawn and tried to muddy the waters, however, the world number 11 showed great resolve to win this crucial game.
A mere four points separated Arjun and Bortnyk when the arena clock expired. Arjun’s victories in recent weeks are underpinned by a key strength: adaptability. Whether chasing down leaders or defending a narrow advantage, Arjun has demonstrated he can do it all.
How to review games?
The games from this week’s Bullet Brawl can be found here.
Bullet Brawl is an exciting arena featuring Chess.com’s top bullet specialists. It takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $1,000. Like Titled Tuesday and Arena Kings, Bullet Brawl often features top GMs, including Hikaru Nakamura, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!
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