Following his back-to-back victories in the highly publicized 2025 Louisiana State Championship and Iowa Open, GM Hikaru Nakamura returned to the Bullet Brawl arena on Saturday and picked up the $400 first prize.
Nakamura scored 53/65 in the event, earning him a total of 166 points, 24 more than GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, who will receive $250, and 30 ahead of GM Andrew Tang, who bagged the $150 third prize.
The $100 best women’s prize was won by WFM Veronika Shubenkova, while Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv became the first master to win the community event.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, September 20, at noon ET/17:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3345 | 166 | |
| 2 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3217 | 140 | |
| 3 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3194 | 134 | |
| 4 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3082 | 128 | |
| 5 | GM | Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3044 | 124 | |
| 6 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3157 | 124 | |
| 7 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3153 | 123 | |
| 8 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3075 | 123 | |
| 9 | GM | ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 3070 | 122 | |
| 10 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3133 | 119 | |
| 11 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3038 | 116 | |
| 12 | IM | Erebuni_is_back | Erik R. Gasparyan | 3030 | 115 | |
| 13 | GM | Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 3091 | 114 | |
| 14 | FM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2970 | 114 | |
| 15 | IM | rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 3009 | 111 | |
| 16 | FM | Bryanl106 | Bryan Enming Lin | 2967 | 108 | |
| 17 | GM | MetiForce | Mahdi Gholami Orimi | 2981 | 105 | |
| 18 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 2936 | 104 | |
| 19 | IM | Arash_Tahbaz | Arash Tahbaz | 2945 | 102 | |
| 20 | CM | Germanovs_Georgijs | Georgijs Germanovs | 2950 | 102 | |
(Full final standings here.)
179 titled players joined in Saturday’s arena, with many hoping to be paired against the world’s second-highest-rated player and 47-time Bullet Brawl winner, Nakamura.
Regulars including GMs Bortnyk, Tang, Haowen Xue, Tuan Minh Le, Sina Movahed, and Emin Ohanyan were Nakamura’s main adversaries; however, two non-GMs also managed to steal points from the top seed.
FM Lin, who had previously played and lost four games against Nakamura, was one of these players, and he broke the curse with tremendous panache.
Despite several setbacks, Nakamura was dominant—he notched 49 wins, conceded eight draws and losses, and switched up his openings from game to game.
In the first half of the arena, Nakamura showed his penchant for aggression, concocting a blistering attack against Iranian GM Mahdi Gholami Orimi that culminated in a double-piece sacrifice and, consequently, checkmate.
Soon after, Nakamura dispatched one of his key rivals, Chess.com’s hyperbullet champion Tang, who neglected his back rank while rushing through the game. See if you can spot the winning move below.
Bortnyk is the other player who managed to keep pace with Nakamura for the most part, though his 2/8 score against the eventual winner impacted the final standings. In one of their duels, Bortnyk thought he found a puzzle-worthy checkmating combination but was stunned to find that Nakamura could sacrifice his queen to turn the tables.
In their penultimate clash, Bortnyk’s chances of catching Nakamura were dashed after he missed a golden opportunity in the late middlegame while he was down a piece.
Although Nakamura didn’t post any record-breaking streaks in this week’s Bullet Brawl (his longest undefeated streak was 15 games), his consistency made him an unstoppable force.
With 47 Bullet Brawl titles under his belt, Nakamura is closing in on the unprecedented 50 mark. Given that his all-time win percentage is over 38%, this could be achieved before the end of 2025.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 47 | 13 | 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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