GM Hikaru Nakamura has moved one step closer to a historic 50th Bullet Brawl title after outscoring GMs Andrew Tang, Daniel Naroditsky, and 196 hungry titled players on Saturday.
Nakamura scored 174 points in the two-hour arena and won the $400 first prize; however, he was pushed to the limit by Tang, whose speed earned him second place and $250.
Filling out the remaining top four were Naroditsky, who will receive $150 for third, and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, who will receive $100 for fourth. IM Karina Ambartsumova will take home $100 for winning the best women’s prize.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, September 27, at noon ET/17:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3348 | 174 | |
| 2 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3200 | 161 | |
| 3 | GM | DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3201 | 157 | |
| 4 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3197 | 141 | |
| 5 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3129 | 138 | |
| 6 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3094 | 138 | |
| 7 | GM | GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3161 | 135 | |
| 8 | FM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2984 | 122 | |
| 9 | IM | Alonmindlin | Alon Mindlin | 3001 | 122 | |
| 10 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3099 | 121 | |
| 11 | IM | johnathan113 | Johnathan Bakalchuk | 2938 | 118 | |
| 12 | GM | Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 3042 | 117 | |
| 13 | FM | Bryanl106 | Bryan Enming Lin | 3009 | 117 | |
| 14 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 2917 | 113 | |
| 15 | IM | MonsterChess_uz | Mukhammadali Abdurakhmonov | 2893 | 111 | |
| 16 | IM | jayden960 | Zhenyong Jayden Wong | 2788 | 107 | |
| 17 | IM | Akewjon | Saidakbar Saydaliev | 2809 | 104 | |
| 18 | CM | Torosyan_chess | Volodya Torosyan | 2830 | 104 | |
| 19 | GM | Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3167 | 103 | |
| 20 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3126 | 102 |
(Full final standings here.)
The latest edition of Bullet Brawl attracted a robust field with GMs Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi, and Parham Maghsoodloo leading the pack in terms of FIDE ratings. The top-five all-time Bullet Brawl winners—Nakamura, Naroditsky, Bortnyk, Tang, and GM Jose Martinez—all vied for the top prize.
Off the back of a commanding performance at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 and subsequent 2025 FIDE World Cup wildcard announcement, GM Abhimanyu Mishra appeared in this week’s event, though his appearance was brief as he withdrew seven games in.
FIDE will distribute six wild cards for the World Cup in Goa.
Here are two first awardees.
Mishra and Woodward.
Representing the young generation of American players, these two boys impressed us all with a mature play in recently concluded FIDE Grand Swiss.Accidentally, both…
— Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky) September 19, 2025
The fastest starter on Saturday was the talented 12-year-old FM Sergey Sklokin, who scored 12.5/13 in his first games. His finest result was a win over the 31-time winner, Naroditsky. Despite succumbing to Sklokin, Naroditsky stayed hot on the early leader’s heels and eventually overtook him, courtesy of a string of games peppered with brilliancies.
Meanwhile, Nakamura stayed in touch with the leaders and contributed to Sklokin’s drop from the top, dismantling his Grunfeld Defense in a clean-cut, positional exhibition.
Tang was another player who kept himself in the hunt, and he quietly surged to the front after working his way through several games. By the halfway mark, he found himself 13 points clear of Nakamura and well positioned to run away with his 13th title.
However, Nakamura can never be counted out. A 10-game winning streak ensued, and the deficit was reduced to a single point. Eventually, Nakamura and Tang met in what would become a turning point in the tournament.
In a tense late middlegame where all three results were possible, Tang slipped, exposing himself to a stunning checkmating motif. See if you can spot the sequence that Nakamura found below.
From this point onward, the favorite never let go of his lead. By the time the arena clock expired, the gap at the top had grown to a comfortable 13 points. In the dying seconds, Nakamura summed up his performance:
“Overall very, very good. Actually it’s amazing. Andrew (Tang) has so many more games than me; I played 67 and he played 72. Five more games than me, probably six more, and still I won because I was more accurate at the critical moments. So even though Andrew had a much higher volume, I’m going to get the win.”
Nakamura now possesses 48 Bullet Brawl titles, 74 Titled Tuesday wins, more Freestyle Friday titles than any other player, and has won a host of super tournaments over the course of his career.
Yet the Candidates and FIDE World Championships beckon. By April next year, it will become crystal clear whether Nakamura’s online dominance has helped give him an edge as a world title contender.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 48 | 14 | 19 | 15 |
| GM Daniel Naroditsky | 31 | 7 | 14 | 10 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Sam Sevian | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Nihal Sarin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| GM Yagiz Erdogmus | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Tuan Minh Le | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Yoseph Taher | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Reza Mahdavi | 1 | 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, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!
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