For the first time since January, GM Hikaru Nakamura took part in and won an edition of Bullet Brawl, keeping his 100% win rate in 2026 intact. The Bullet Brawl king scored 52.5/65 for a total of 172 points, 20 points more than the second-placed GM Oleksandr Bortnyk.
For their efforts, Nakamura and Bortnyk will receive $400 and $250, while GMs Dmitry Andreikin and Tuan Minh Le will receive $150 and $100 for finishing third and fourth, respectively. FM Anastasia Avramidou scored 103 points and secured the $100 best women’s prize.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will begin on Saturday, May 9, at 12 pm ET/6:00 p.m. CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3307 | 172 | 15 | |
| 2 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3303 | 152 | 10 | |
| 3 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3271 | 152 | 7 | |
| 4 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3261 | 146 | 7 | |
| 5 | IM | Bryanl106 | Bryan Enming Lin | 3090 | 125 | 6 | |
| 6 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3138 | 124 | 7 | |
| 7 | GM | HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 3072 | 124 | 5 | |
| 8 | IM | jakopogi | Michael Concio Jr. | 3110 | 122 | 5 | |
| 9 | IM | IlanSchnaider | Ilan Schnaider | 3062 | 120 | 8 | |
| 10 | FM | bubeliang | Havard Haug | 3038 | 118 | 6 | |
| 11 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3025 | 114 | 6 | |
| 12 | GM | Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 3042 | 112 | 7 | |
| 13 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 2990 | 112 | 5 | |
| 14 | FM | Khazhatuly_Alikhan | Alikhan Khazhatuly | 2873 | 105 | 5 | |
| 15 | FM | M_Pank_537 | Maksym Pankiv | 2839 | 105 | 4 | |
| 16 | IM | Arash_Tahbaz | Arash Tahbaz | 3018 | 104 | 6 | |
| 17 | GM | ChessSharkz | Kayden Troff | 3015 | 104 | 5 | |
| 18 | FM | anasta10 | Anastasia Avramidou | 2872 | 103 | 7 | |
| 19 | NM | SteveAlappatt | Steve Paul Alappatt | 2743 | 101 | 4 | |
| 20 | CM | calmberserk | Vihaan Jammalamadaka | 2846 | 99 | 5 |
(Full final standings here.)
With the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament behind him, the most decorated Bullet Brawl player of all-time returned on Saturday to remind us why he is the GOAT of the format. In a 130-player field featuring the 16-time winner Bortnyk and one-time winners Le and IM Reza Mahdavi, Nakamura stood out as a firm favorite.
Undeterred and clearly galvanized by early losses to GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra and CM Nika Volkov, Nakamura stamped his authority on the event early on with a blistering 15-game streak full of colorful tactics and combinational play.
Against Armenian IM Yuri Hambardzumian, Nakamura heaped pressure on with a Fishing Pole trap-inspired offer, 10.h4!!, which provoked a fatal, knee-jerk response from his opponent.
Later, Nakamura toppled former super-GM Andreikin with an eight-move combination, resulting in a four-point material advantage.Â
Although Andreikin eventually snapped Nakamura’s streak with a draw and did so on two other occasions, the final score between the players was 8.5-1.5 in favor of Nakamura.
Despite finishing second, Bortnyk was also unable to stifle Nakamura. The score between them was 3-0 in favor of Nakamura, and Bortnyk found it difficult to loosen the American’s iron grip on the evaluation bar in each of their duels.
In the end, just two players, GM David Paravyan and Norwegian FM Havard Haug, managed to defeat Nakamura on more than one occasion.
Another player who posted an outstanding performance was Avramidou. Although the Greek FM is one of the most prolific winners of the best women’s prize historically, the margin between her and the second-highest women’s player, FM Rose Atwell, was also 20 points.
Avramidou’s biggest scalp was Filipino IM Michael Concio Jr., which occurred when the latter missed a trick that would have led to insufficient material.
With this being Nakamura’s sixth victory in 2026, he has now won double the Bullet Brawl titles of any other player.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2026 Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 55 | 6 | 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 |
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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