GM Ediz Gurel capped off a tremendous November in the Bullet Brawl arena by picking up his third $400 win of the month on Saturday. Gurel won 49 games, drew three, and lost 13, amassing a winning score of 167 points in the process.
GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and FM Dincer Tasdogen, finished second through fourth, earning $250, $150, and $100, respectively, while Greece’s FM Anastasia Avramidou collected the $100 best women’s prize once again.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 3294 | 167 | |
| 2 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3260 | 154 | |
| 3 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3218 | 152 | |
| 4 | FM | yavrukurt40 | Dincer Tasdogen | 3125 | 141 | |
| 5 | GM | Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3162 | 140 | |
| 6 | GM | hansen | Eric Hansen | 3137 | 137 | |
| 7 | GM | nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3218 | 137 | |
| 8 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3075 | 127 | |
| 9 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3064 | 124 | |
| 10 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3121 | 122 | |
| 11 | IM | Zurability | Zurab Javakhadze | 2889 | 111 | |
| 12 | GM | Azerichess | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2990 | 109 | |
| 13 | CM | fandebobbyfischer | Garry Anatholy Hernandez Ojeda | 2826 | 104 | |
| 14 | IM | Alonmindlin | Alon Mindlin | 2895 | 104 | |
| 15 | FM | Queensandpawns | Jude Shearsby | 2720 | 103 | |
| 16 | GM | gm_rashid | Raset Ziatdinov | 2686 | 100 | |
| 17 | IM | Aswathchess | Aswath S | 2848 | 100 | |
| 18 | GM | vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2976 | 99 | |
| 19 | GM | ChessSharkz | Kayden Troff | 2895 | 97 | |
| 20 | FM | WindWhistler11 | Daniel Gutiérrez Olivares | 2786 | 96 |
(Full final standings here.)
Before Saturday, only GMs Nakamura, Andrew Tang, and the late Daniel Naroditsky had ever managed to win three Bullet Brawls in one month. For Gurel to achieve this feat at 16 years old is remarkable, and telling of what the future might hold for the Turkish prodigy.
Ediz Gurel claims his 3rd #BulletBrawl title in 4 weeks with wins against Hikaru, Nihal, Bortnyk, Jospem, and more! 👏🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/VF2aUdV4L3
— Chess.com (@chesscom) November 29, 2025
After losing his first game to GM Nihal Sarin, Gurel blazed past 15 opponents in a row. Only five games lasted longer than 40 moves. Bortnyk threw up the stiffest resistance and could have snapped Gurel’s streak on two occasions, but opportunities went begging.
Gurel was eventually brought down by Nakamura after he was flagged in a time scramble, and his title aspirations were almost derailed by subsequent losses to Nihal and Bortnyk, however, the resilience of the world number 74 came to the fore and he soon posted a nine game win-streak.
Gurel dispatched several of Bullet Brawl’s most decorated players during this streak, including GMs Emin Ohanyan, Nihal, Haowen Xue, Shakriyar Mamedyarov, Jose Martinez, Matthias Bluebaum, and IM Renato Terry.
Gurel’s win over the 2026 Candidates qualifier Bluebaum showed maturity and poise beyond his years—despite the pinballing evaluation bar and extreme time pressure, Gurel kept his cool for long enough to flag Bluebaum on the 99th move.
Chessbrah’s GM Eric Hansen also became a victim of Gurel’s after the latter’s Nimzowitsch-Larsen, b2-bishop became the most powerful piece on the board.
Nakamura, who was Gurel’s closest competitor, tried in vain to keep up with the youngster, but Nakamura’s seven draws to Gurel’s three let him down. While streaming one of his direct encounters with Gurel live on Twitch, the American superstar made a surprising admission about Gurel: “He’s just got much better speed than me.”
In the end, Gurel finished strongly and won by a comfortable 13-point margin, securing his seventh Bullet Brawl title and etching his name into the record books.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 48 | 14 | 19 | 15 |
| GM Daniel Naroditsky | 32 | 8 | 14 | 10 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GM Nihal Sarin | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GM Sam Sevian | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 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 |
| GM Jeffery Xiong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | 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, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!
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