GM Andrew Tang secured his 15th career Bullet Brawl title on Saturday after laying down one of the best recent performances. Having stopped challenges by GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin, Tang stormed home to a 15th career victory.
With 50 wins apiece, the top three were difficult to separate; however, an outlying 17-game streak by Tang helped stretch his score to 174 points—three more than Arjun and 13 more than Nihal.
Tang, Arjun, and Nihal will receive $400, $250, and $150 for first through third, while GM Jose Martinez and FM Anastasia Avramidou will receive $100 each for finishing fourth and being the top women’s player, respectively.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Mar. 7, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3284 | 174 | 17 | |
| 2 | GM | GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3308 | 171 | 10 | |
| 3 | GM | nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3261 | 161 | 9 | |
| 4 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3202 | 146 | 7 | |
| 5 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3199 | 135 | 14 | |
| 6 | IM | johnathan113 | Johnathan Bakalchuk | 2958 | 130 | 7 | |
| 7 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3205 | 126 | 6 | |
| 8 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3107 | 123 | 11 | |
| 9 | GM | KNVB | Aman Hambleton | 3039 | 118 | 9 | |
| 10 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3044 | 118 | 8 | |
| 11 | GM | Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 3079 | 117 | 12 | |
| 12 | FM | TrimitziosP7 | Petros Trimitzios | 3018 | 117 | 4 | |
| 13 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 3031 | 116 | 8 | |
| 14 | CM | Germanovs_Georgijs | Georgijs Germanovs | 2973 | 109 | 11 | |
| 15 | FM | anasta10 | Anastasia Avramidou | 2858 | 105 | 6 | |
| 16 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3214 | 103 | 7 | |
| 17 | GM | blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2805 | 103 | 7 | |
| 18 | IM | kingnb | Nitish Belurkar | 2885 | 102 | 6 | |
| 19 | IM | ProfessorChess101 | Yichen Han | 2904 | 101 | 4 | |
| 20 | IM | bulletteemo | Mai Narva | 2780 | 100 | 5 |
(Full final standings here.)
To get their weekly dose of adrenaline and vie for Bullet Brawl glory, 155 titled players joined Chess.com’s quickest arena on Saturday. Spearheading the field were eight former winners: GMs Tang, Arjun, Nihal, Martinez, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Tuan Minh Le, and IMs Renato Terry and Reza Mahdavi.
For the latter, Bullet Brawl was a chance to unwind after winning a hard-fought first round of the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. Argentinian whizz-kid and Bullet Brawl regular, IM Faustino Oro, who aims to become the youngest ever GM with a norm in Moscow, understandably, didn’t follow suit.
From the get-go, it was the usual suspects who emerged as favorites, and none had a better start than Le. The Vietnamese content creator notched 17 wins and two draws in the first 30 minutes, and many of his games were decided before the 30-move mark.
In one game, Le slyly lifted his rook to set up a puzzle-worthy checkmate against Spanish FM Alvaro Torres Rebolledo.
Although Le was unbeaten in the first quarter of the arena, Tang stole Le’s thunder with a barnstorming 17-game winning streak soon after. Martinez, Bortnyk, Nihal (twice), Arjun (twice), GM Pranesh M, and GM Srihari L R all fell victim to a rampant Tang during this stunning patch of play.
The second clash between Tang and Nihal, which was a 12-move rout, was particularly important as it secured maximum points for the American in 21 seconds and effectively thwarted Nihal’s chances of contesting first place.
Several games later, Tang’s elite theoretical understanding of the London System set the scene for a 29-move win over Arjun, which in retrospect was crucial when it came to their final scores.
Tang’s most dramatic game of the arena, however, came against Bortnyk in the middle of his streak. The players dueled for 114 moves, playing almost two moves per second on average, and Tang was defending for much of the bout. By the time the 100th move was reached, Tang had accrued a four-second advantage, and he needed no invitation to show why he is the reigning Chess.com hyperbullet champion.Â
With this being his 15th victory, Tang has scooted back into third 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 Andrew Tang | 15 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 14 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 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 Yagiz Erdogmus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IM Renato Terry | 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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