On February 14, 15-year-old American GM Andy Woodward broke the Chess.com bullet rating record, previously held by GM Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura set the previous record of 3570 on November 11, 2020, meaning that it stood for more than five years. Woodward, the recent winner of the Tata Steel Chess Challengers tournament, broke the record by winning a remarkable 25 hyperbullet games in a row.
15yo GM Andy Woodward has SMASHED the https://t.co/EufIHvdgvi Bullet Rating record! 📈
Woodward is currently 12 points above Hikaru’s previous site-wide record of 3570, which was set in 2021! Congratulations! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/5mDsTyz9gF
— Chess.com (@chesscom) February 17, 2026
When FM Mike Klein asked Woodward about his accomplishment, Woodward explained, “When I set the bullet record on chess.com, I didn’t really pay attention to it being like a record or anything. I was mainly just trying to have fun and it kind of came as a surprise. So it was kind of like killing two bullets with one stone.”
His streak began during a long session of games played at the time control of 10 seconds per side with an increment of just 0.1 seconds per move. It’s worth noting that premoves on Chess.com cost 0.1 seconds on the clock, so this time control is essentially ten seconds of thinking time per game in addition to premoves. After losing on time in four moves against the anonymous account Boburjon314159, possibly due to distraction or computer issues, Woodward defeated that same opponent in the next 17 games. Woodward’s rating was so high that he was only earning two points per win, and it took 16 games to gain the 31 points it took to break the record.
After reaching the record, Woodward kept playing. After one more victory against the same opponent, he played against the account MeToooSlow, winning all eight games. This was final game of the series, establishing the site’s current record of 3582. Woodward was losing on the board, but won easily on the clock. He had more than two thirds of his initial time left when his opponent flagged.
Woodward is still on his peak rating, so he might continue to extend his record in the coming days, perhaps while preparing for the upcoming ChessKid Youth Championship.
