The 14-year-old Turkish sensation GM Yagiz Erdogmus made a big splash on his return to the Bullet Brawl arena on Saturday, taking the top spot ahead of 176 titled players. Erdogmus accumulated 162 points, comprising 49 wins, two draws, and 16 losses, and was the convincing winner of the $400 first prize.
IM Renato Terry trailed by 20 points and will receive $250 for second, while GM Andrew Tang and IM Yoseph Taher took home the $150 and $100 prizes for third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, IM Karina Ambartsumova will receive $100 for being the top-scoring women’s player.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Mar. 28, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | legendisback1 | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 3232 | 162 | |
| 2 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3178 | 142 | |
| 3 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3167 | 140 | |
| 4 | IM | yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 3133 | 134 | |
| 5 | FM | AJEDREZCONGARZON | Andres Santiago Garzon Camelo | 3060 | 129 | |
| 6 | GM | GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3208 | 127 | |
| 7 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3185 | 126 | |
| 8 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3179 | 125 | |
| 9 | FM | bubeliang | Havard Haug | 3057 | 123 | |
| 10 | IM | Herzog2012 | Mark Smirnov | 3077 | 122 | |
| 11 | CM | DrKiller67 | Artem Avanesian | 3090 | 121 | |
| 12 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3128 | 120 | |
| 13 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3099 | 120 | |
| 14 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3113 | 120 | |
| 15 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3055 | 117 | |
| 16 | GM | HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 3050 | 117 | |
| 17 | FM | Bryanl106 | Bryan Enming Lin | 3036 | 115 | |
| 18 | IM | carokannlover213 | Patryk Cieslak | 2988 | 110 | |
| 19 | FM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 3007 | 105 | |
| 20 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 2968 | 104 |
(Full final standings here.)
Erdogmus has commanded his fair share of headlines over the last 12 months due to his record-breaking rise in classical chess, and, as a result, his speed chess prowess is often understated. Every once in a while, though, Erdogmus reminds the world that he is on the verge of becoming an elite player in all formats.
On Saturday, Erdogmus was joined at the Bullet Brawl start line by an illustrious group of GMs, including Tang, Matthias Bluebaum, Arjun Erigaisi, Jose Martinez, Emin Ohanyan, Sina Movahed, as well as danger merchants in IMs Terry and Taher. Top juniors in FM Sergey Sklokin and IM Faustino Oro also joined the fray.
At the end of the first quarter, it was Oro who held a slim lead after a flying start. A 44-move win over Tang was the finest of the 12-year-old’s results, and this came off the back of a perfectly timed intermezzo in the middlegame. See if you can spot how Oro won material below.
The lead changed hands several times in the next 30 minutes between Oro and Martinez with no signs of a breakaway. At the halfway point, however, something changed. Erdogmus, who had been lingering about 10 points off the lead, switched gears and went on a 16-game rampage.Â
The 14-year-old assumed the lead just seven games into his streak, and in the eighth against Taher, he broke free of a seemingly drawish position by trapping his opponent’s rook.
Live on Twitch, Tang noticed Erdogmus’ sudden burst and hinted that he might run away with the event: “Well, if I’m going to lock in, it’s going to need to be very soon because Erdogmus is playing apparently well.”
Tang’s foreshadowing came to fruition. Another eight wins on the fly for Erdogmus cemented his spot at the top, and his gameplay often made other in-form players look helpless. Oro was one such player, who slipped to 12th place after suffering two defeats at the hands of Erdogmus during his streak.
Tang also finished strongly, working his way into third position; however, even he couldn’t keep up with the leader’s pace. In the latter of their two clashes on Saturday, Tang found a picturesque bishop sacrifice which shredded Erdogmus’ kingside, but a counter-brilliancy five moves later flipped the initiative and turned the game on its head.
When the dust settled, Erdogmus stood alone at the top and became the eighth player to win three Bullet Brawl crowns.
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 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 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 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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