In an exhibition of dynamism and speed, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk won his first Bullet Brawl title in five months after outpacing 154 titled players in Saturday’s two-hour arena.
With GM Hikaru Nakamura unavailable to defend his five-week winning streak due to a clash with the Speed Chess Championship Finals, Bortnyk entered as the favorite and finished a 14-time winner of the $400 first prize.
GMs Sam Sevian, Andrew Tang, Sergei Zhigalko finished 2nd through 4th and will receive $250, $150, $100, while FM Anastasia Avramidou will take home the $100 best women’s prize for her 29th-placed finish.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3261 | 158 | 14 | |
| 2 | GM | Konavets | Sam Sevian | 3193 | 144 | 7 | |
| 3 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3185 | 141 | 7 | |
| 4 | GM | Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 3110 | 139 | 9 | |
| 5 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3144 | 135 | 9 | |
| 6 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3204 | 132 | 8 | |
| 7 | CM | Germanovs_Georgijs | Georgijs Germanovs | 3063 | 127 | 6 | |
| 8 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3143 | 122 | 5 | |
| 9 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3118 | 121 | 9 | |
| 10 | GM | Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3125 | 115 | 6 | |
| 11 | GM | Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2903 | 114 | 5 | |
| 12 | FM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 3076 | 112 | 9 | |
| 13 | FM | ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 3032 | 112 | 7 | |
| 14 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3052 | 111 | 7 | |
| 15 | GM | chito89 | Axel Bachmann | 2933 | 111 | 5 | |
| 16 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3089 | 110 | 6 | |
| 17 | IM | Boundless_Strike | Shamil Arslanov | 2892 | 107 | 5 | |
| 18 | IM | IlanSchnaider | Ilan Schnaider | 2945 | 106 | 4 | |
| 19 | CM | ZoktayyyyFanClubbb | Aytug Celal Salci | 2737 | 104 | 6 | |
| 20 | CM | calmberserk | Vihaan Jammalamadaka | 2817 | 104 | 6 |
(Full final standings here.)
Bortnyk’s reputation as one of Chess.com’s pre-eminent bullet players was strengthened on Saturday following an outstanding 49.5/64 performance in this week’s brawl that saw him return to equal 3rd on the all-time Bullet Brawl 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 Oleksandr Bortnyk | 14 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 14 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| 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 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 |
In a field featuring the world-beating prodigy IM Faustino Oro, intermittent super-GM Sevian, and the world’s quickest chess player Tang, Bortnyk needed to have his wits about him. From the get-go, the Ukrainian GM showed signs of good form, and even outplayed Sevian in a rook and pawn ending to cap off a six-game winning streak.
While the tactically shrewd GM Tuan Minh Le would snap Bortnyk’s streak in the following game, he subsequently went 18 games without suffering a single loss. During this time, the 29-year-old posted a 14-game winning streak which became the longest of any player in the event (Zhigalko, Le, Oro, and FM Sergey Sklokin notched the equal second longest streaks of nine games).
GMs Federico Perez Ponsa, Sanan Sjugirov, Tang, Amin Tabatabaei, and Sevian formed an impressive lineup of GM victims for Bortnyk, and there were plenty of highlights in these games.
Against Tabatabaei, Bortnyk demonstrated his talent in rook endings once more. After penetrating the seventh rank with his rook, he managed to trap Tabatabaei’s king in a mating net.
The wildest game of Bortnyk’s event, however, came against the ever-dangerous Tang. When Bortnyk gave up a piece for two pawns, the evaluation tilted heavily in favor of Tang, but Bortnyk was able to drum up counterplay and create connected passed pawns on the queenside.
As both players’ clock’s dwindled, the game descended into chaos. The evaluation bar pinballed between all three results, before Bortnyk found a way to promote a pawn and checkmate Tang with two seconds to spare.
Tang and Sevian tried to chase down Bortnyk at the tail end of the event but courtesy of several quick, timely victories for the latter, their efforts were in vain. A quintessential Jobava-Rapport London System drubbing delivered by Bortnyk over Sjugirov was one of the wins that helped Bortnyk stamp his authority on the scoreboard.
In 2025, Tang was the second most prolific winner behind Nakamura but overall, he is neck and neck with Bortnyk. Will we start to see one of these players break away this year, or will the tightrope walk for third position continue?
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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