GM Hikaru Nakamura bounced back from last week’s rare defeat in emphatic fashion on Saturday, storming to victory in the latest edition of Bullet Brawl with 178 points. Nakamura finished 15 points clear of GM Oleksandr Bortnyk and with this win came a new milestone, 60 Bullet Brawl titles. Â
For his victory, Nakamura will receive $400, Bortnyk will receive $250, and GM Jeffery Xiong and IM Goutham Krishna earned $150 and $100, respectively, for third and fourth places. In 24th place was IM Meri Arabidze, who secured the $100 best women’s prize.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will begin on Saturday, July 4, 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 | 3333 | 178 | 16 | |
| 2 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3272 | 163 | 11 | |
| 3 | GM | jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3216 | 145 | 7 | |
| 4 | IM | splendidkid | Goutham Krishna | 3117 | 142 | 6 | |
| 5 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3195 | 140 | 8 | |
| 6 | GM | ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3191 | 136 | 6 | |
| 7 | GM | Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3202 | 128 | 13 | |
| 8 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3201 | 127 | 9 | |
| 9 | GM | Bardiya06 | Bardiya Daneshvar | 3150 | 125 | 6 | |
| 10 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3147 | 124 | 4 | |
| 11 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3081 | 121 | 9 | |
| 12 | GM | ChessSharkz | Kayden Troff | 3053 | 117 | 13 | |
| 13 | IM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 3095 | 115 | 9 | |
| 14 | IM | chess_master_8820 | Radin Yadegar | 3024 | 112 | 6 | |
| 15 | GM | vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3090 | 109 | 11 | |
| 16 | IM | johnathan113 | Johnathan Bakalchuk | 2940 | 109 | 5 | |
| 17 | GM | SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3038 | 108 | 5 | |
| 18 | IM | kingnb | Nitish Belurkar | 2984 | 106 | 6 | |
| 19 | FM | TrimitziosP7 | Petros Trimitzios | 2976 | 102 | 11 | |
| 20 | FM | physisian_chess | Mohammad Hossein Darvishi | 2935 | 102 | 6 |
(Full final standings here.)
The undisputed king of Bullet Brawl was back to his brilliant best on Saturday, immediately announcing himself as the favorite among the 175 titled participants with an 18.5/19 start. On his way to the top, Nakamura’s prey included three GMs: Bardiya Daneshvar (twice), Andrew Hong, Jeffery Xiong, as well as five IMs.
Against the prodigious IM Sergey Sklokin, Nakamura showed his knowledge of the Benko Gambit despite having played it just 32 times on Chess.com. When Sklokin succumbed to pressure and lost a pawn, Nakamura’s pieces swarmed and delivered blow after blow to White’s setup.
An outrageous tactical shot, 19…Nxa3!!, was the cherry on top of a masterfully played middlegame.
NM Kevin Chor was another player who felt the brunt of Nakamura’s form. Facing the world number-three’s Grand Prix Attack, Chor’s pieces, aside from his queen, were rendered useless by the 30th move. Before long, Nakamura had won a pawn and driven his opponent’s king to the edge of the board. These were the catalysts for Black’s resignation on move 34.
While Nakamura’s start was the strongest, an 11-game unbeaten streak by Bortnyk turned the arena into a two-horse race.
Crucially, Bortnyk was the player who snapped Nakamura’s streak after he pounced on an endgame blunder by the leader. See if you can spot the counter to White’s 36.b4?? below.
The pair played on five other occasions over the next 45 minutes, and Bortnyk scored positively; however, Nakamura’s start meant that as the final quarter of the arena approached, he still led by a 12-point margin.
Their next clash effectively decided whether it would be a tight finish or if Nakamura would run away with the event. To add to the drama, the evaluation ricocheted between winning and losing at least five times.
Although he was clearly disappointed by his play, Nakamura affirmed the significance of the win on his Kick stream: “That was an important win, an important win. Not a good game but a win nonetheless.”
Afterward, Nakamura scored a solid 10.5/15 to close out the arena, quashing any chance of a Bortnyk comeback. With this victory, Nakamura is only 10 wins shy of having more titles than the rest of the leaderboard, excluding the late and great GM Daniel Naroditsky, who still holds the second position by a wide margin.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2026 Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 60 | 11 | 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 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 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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