Bullet Brawl Mar. 14, 2026: Bortnyk Storms Home To Claim Back-To-Back Brawls

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk entered the Bullet Brawl ring and emerged victorious for the second week in a row on Saturday after storming home and posting a score of 161 points, pocketing the $400 first prize for the 16th time.

In second place was GM Arjun Erigaisi, who will receive $250, and he was followed by IMs Renato Terry and Yoseph Taher, who will receive $150 and $100, respectively, for third and fourth. FM Anastasia Avramidou once again claimed the $100 best women’s prize.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Mar. 21, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.

Standings

(Full final standings here.)

After the thrilling sprint to the finish line in last week’s edition, Saturday’s Bullet Brawl attracted several of the world’s top chess players, including GMs Arjun and Parham Maghsoodloo, along with several players involved in that sprint, such as Bortnyk, GM Matthias Bluebaum, and Terry.

The number of titled players totaled 156, but unlike last week, when the list of contenders chopped and changed, the arena quickly became a two-horse race between Bortnyk and the world number-10 Arjun.

After shaking off a tough loss to Maghsoodloo in his first game, Bortnyk scored a dominant 16.5/18 thereafter, giving him a shot at defending his title. Much like in his winning run in the second 3 0 Thursday tournament earlier this week, Bortnyk leaned on his world-class understanding of attacking patterns in the Jobava-Rapport London System.

Not to be outdone by Bortnyk, Arjun also started strongly with 16/19. The Indian GM’s first game, which saw him bowl over GM Jose Martinez with the black pieces in 28 moves, garnered a Game Review accuracy score of 98.1.

When the players came face-to-face for the first time, it was Bortnyk who came out on top; however, their next two duels would go Arjun’s way.

Bortnyk continued to shine in his games against other opponents between these games. Against Terry’s tricky Trompowsky Attack, Bortnyk uncorked a move-eight brilliancy which won him a pawn and the initiative. By move 17, Terry’s kingside was in tatters, and Bortnyk capitalized at pace.

Despite having lost just a handful of games, Bortnyk found himself trailing Arjun by 10 points as the final quarter of the arena approached due to his lack of long streaks. Fortunately, Bortnyk saved his best bullet chess until the very end. An eight-game streak featuring wins over Terry, GM Tuan Minh Le (twice), Taher (twice), Maghsoodloo, and crucially Arjun catapulted him into the lead.

The game against Arjun was over in just 15 moves following an incisive knight sacrifice; however, even without this game, Bortnyk would have been the likely victor since Arjun went six games without scoring a win in the final minutes of the arena.

With three wins to his name in 2026, Bortnyk has already equaled the number of titles won in 2023 and 2025, though he will have to secure a few more to match his seven titles in 2024.

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