Less than 48 hours after claiming that 3+0 is his “best time control,” GM Hikaru Nakamura outclassed an elite field to win his 62nd career Bullet Brawl title. Nakamura stayed within striking distance of the frequently changing leaders before surging late to reach a score of 168 points.
Nakamura will receive $400 for first place, IM Faustino Oro will receive $250 for second, while GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Ediz Gurel will receive $150 and $100 for finishing third and fourth. Meanwhile. FM Anastasia Avramidou added yet another best women’s prize to her collection.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will begin on Saturday, July 25, at 12 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3339 | 168 | 8 | |
| 2 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3253 | 146 | 7 | |
| 3 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3248 | 140 | 9 | |
| 4 | GM | gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 3269 | 137 | 6 | |
| 5 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3210 | 135 | 8 | |
| 6 | GM | Bardiya06 | Bardiya Daneshvar | 3162 | 135 | 7 | |
| 7 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3153 | 129 | 10 | |
| 8 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3144 | 126 | 8 | |
| 9 | GM | hansen | Eric Hansen | 3133 | 124 | 5 | |
| 10 | GM | ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3170 | 121 | 6 | |
| 11 | GM | ChessSharkz | Kayden Troff | 3027 | 118 | 9 | |
| 12 | IM | johnathan113 | Johnathan Bakalchuk | 2976 | 118 | 6 | |
| 13 | IM | Gianmarco_es | Gianmarco Leiva Rodríguez | 2980 | 115 | 8 | |
| 14 | GM | MrTattaglia | Adam Kozak | 2973 | 109 | 5 | |
| 15 | FM | TrimitziosP7 | Petros Trimitzios | 3024 | 108 | 8 | |
| 16 | IM | kingnb | Nitish Belurkar | 2977 | 108 | 5 | |
| 17 | FM | fireemblem7 | Christian Amilcar Santiago Vilca | 2943 | 101 | 6 | |
| 18 | IM | IM_Alex_Ivanov | Alex Ivanov | 2905 | 101 | 5 | |
| 19 | FM | EddieMarsalla | Ivan Vihor Krsnik Cohar | 2858 | 100 | 4 | |
| 20 | NM | EthanNorris2006 | Ethan Norris | 2840 | 99 | 5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Four of the top 20 players on the site’s bullet leaderboards participated in Saturday’s brawl, and they collectively proved their worth by taking out the top four spots. Nakamura entered as the top seed, but was always going to be challenged by the 17-time winner Bortnyk, Vietnamese speed chess veteran and GM Tuan Minh Le (the fifth seed), along with the prodigious talents, Oro and Gurel.
In the first 30 minutes, it was Iranian IM Reza Mahdavi who spent the most time in first, however, a horde of 3000+ rated players loomed within striking range.
Off the back of a nine game streak, Bortnyk soon took the lead and extended his margin to eight points. A blistering attack against IM Giuseppe Leiva produced one of Bortnyk’s quickest wins.
His stay at the top came to a screeching halt though when he lost four consecutive games to Gurel, Nakamura, IM Nitish Belurkar, and Oro, paving the way for the GOAT of Bullet Brawl to rise.
The crucial game between Bortnyk and Nakamura ended in flag fall for the former, despite him being able to deliver checkmate in two.
Unlike his adversaries, once Nakamura hit the front, he didn’t let up. The American staved off challenges from the 12-year-old Oro and the dangerous Gurel, and pulled away from the pack.
During a decisive eight-game winning streak at the tail-end of the arena, Nakamura scored wins over IMs Sven Tica, Renato Terry, and Mahdavi in 25, 14, and 15 moves, respectively, turning a healthy lead into an unassailable one.
Against Tica, Nakamura played clinically and opportunistically after his opponent’s 18…Kf8?, a likely mouseslip.
The win over Mahdavi was even more impressive. In a seemingly innocuous middlegame, Nakamura’s 9.e6! left Black in shambles.
Nakamura’s fine finish left him 22 points ahead of the second-placed Oro, who worked hard to finish six points ahead of Bortnyk.
With 13 wins to his name in 2026, Nakamura is only six titles away from breaking his own record of 19 wins in a calendar year. Given it is only July, Nakamura’s chances of smashing this record are high.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2026 Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 62 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 15 |
| GM Daniel Naroditsky | 32 | N/A | 8 | 14 | 10 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 17 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 15 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 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 Andy Woodward | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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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