Nakamura Secures Historic Bullet Brawl And Titled Tuesday Trifecta

GM Hikaru Nakamura has made Chess.com history by becoming the first player to win Bullet Brawl and both editions of Titled Tuesday in the same week. Nakamura capped off a perfect week and secured a 33rd crown after scoring 252 points on Saturday. Trailing the winner of the $400 first prize were GM Haik Martirosyan, who won $250, and GM Daniel Naroditsky, who will receive $150.

IM Karina Ambartsumova won the $100 best women's prize for the second week running, edging out FM Anastasia Avramidou by five points, while 13-year-old American Kyle Zhuang won his first community brawl title.

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

A decade after joining Chess.com and taking the leaderboards by storm, Nakamura has achieved a feat that reflects his dominance in online speed chess events: securing a Bullet Brawl and Titled Tuesday trifecta. 

In Saturday's Bullet Brawl, Nakamura's usual foes—including Naroditsky, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, GM Tuan Minh Le, Martirosyan, and IM Yoseph Taher—joined 180 other titled players hoping to dethrone the 33-time winner; however, a routine 7/7 start by Nakamura painted an all-too-familiar picture of what was to come.

Stiff resistance from Naroditsky and a first-class effort by IM Aradhya Garg produced the only blips on Nakamura's scorecard. When the arena clock expired, the American had 69 wins, five draws, and four losses. If it weren't for Naroditsky, who scored 3/4 against Nakamura, Garg's inspired effort would have stood as Nakamura's only loss in the event.

Nakamura's prioritized pace and precision over flare en route to his latest victory and while he took fewer risks than usual, his Karpovian, boa-constrictor style led many of his opponents to resign within the first 40 moves. Bortnyk was one such victim of Nakamura—in a seemingly innocuous middlegame, the nine-time winner fell to a positional queen sacrifice.

Others tried to coerce Nakamura toward ambiguous endgames, but the world number-two duly converted almost every challenge thrown his way.

As the final quarter of the arena approached, Nakamura (who was streaming on Kick) expressed surprise at Martirosyan's rise into second place ahead of his longtime rival Naroditsky but respected the Armenian's prowess, and the three games between them were all drawn.

A 21-point gap would be the final margin between the first- and second-place finishers and as the arena drew to a close, Nakamura relaxed and played more provocatively.

For his victories this week, Nakamura will cash in $2,400 plus profits garnered from streaming. Rest assured, he will be back next week to vie for his fourth-straight Titled Tuesday victory and 34th Bullet Brawl title.

All-Time Leaderboard

*Nakamura's 33rd win will be added shortly.

Bullet Brawl is an exciting titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists and takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $1,000.

Much 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!

Previous coverage:

• • Announcing Chess.com Community Bullet Brawl Tournaments
  • Introducing Bullet Brawls And New Arena Options