GM Daniel Naroditsky won Saturday’s Bullet Brawl and the $400 first prize for the second week in a row ahead of a stacked field of titled players after scoring 63 wins, nine draws, and 13 losses (226 points). His closest rivals were unsurprisingly GM Hikaru Nakamura, who finished 10 points shy of the lead, followed by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (183 points).
WGM Meri Arabidze was the top-performing female and took home $100 for her efforts while Moises Ford finished first in the community event with a commanding 68 wins, one draw, and four losses.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will take place next week on Saturday, August 19, 2023, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.
How to review games?
The games from August’s second Bullet Brawl can be found here.
Less than an hour after finishing up a full day of commentary at the 2023 FIDE World Cup, Naroditsky was back online playing in Bullet Brawl. Having won his first title in a Nakamura-less event seven days ago, winning August’s second tournament would prove far more difficult with the return of Bullet Brawl’s seven-time victor.
The customary first-round clash between the first and second seeds was a bruising one. Not even a 3300-performance rating by Naroditsky, according to Chess.com’s Game Review tool, could stop a rampant, 3600-performing Nakamura from claiming an early lead.
Vengeance came quickly as the two were paired again 15 minutes later, with Naroditsky winning their second encounter. As time ticked on, it was Naroditsky whose score started to run away from his compatriot, and he owed this to an ability to intuitively convert games in the quickest fashion possible. Whether the position required a king hunt or a discovered check tactic, the commentator was knife-sharp at finding the correct moves, all the while preserving plenty of time on the clock.
Speed was Naroditsky’s greatest ally on Saturday, and the 85 games he finished were among the most played in Bullet Brawl. Even though the American scored several quick wins, his prowess in the 1|0 time control was even more evident in his games that went down to the wire, as GM Oleksandr Bortnyk found out in the middle of the arena.
Procuring a higher score than the multi-time top female player IM Karina Ambartsumova is always going to require tremendous effort, and Arabidze was up to the task this week. The Georgian’s division-winning run included wins over GM Peter Prohaszka, FM Kagan Aydincelebi, and FM Gravity_Chess, against whom she converted elegantly. Only four points separated Arabidze and Ambartsumova.
WFM Anna Cramling also joined in the fun and commentated on Twitch while playing. One highlight of the stream is when the Swedish streamer created a clip for the ages, unluckily stalemating her opponent while up two queens as she pre-moved while in time pressure.
With 364 players taking part in the titled and community events this week, Bullet Brawl continues to grow into a breeding ground for tactical slugfests and flagging battles. With most of the world’s top bullet chess players participating weekly, the event only promises to get better and better.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Daniel Naroditsky | DanielNaroditsky | 3229 | 226 | |
| 2 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura | Hikaru | 3326 | 216 | |
| 3 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | LyonBeast | 3055 | 183 | |
| 4 | GM | Rauf Mamedov | Baku_Boulevard | 3131 | 178 | |
| 5 | IM | Emin Ohanyan | OhanyanEmin | 3004 | 177 | |
| 6 | GM | Tuan Minh Le | wonderfultime | 3032 | 171 | |
| 7 | GM | Oleksandr Bortnyk | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | 3102 | 166 | |
| 8 | IM | Anthony He | 0gZPanda | 2988 | 159 | |
| 9 | GM | Sergei Zhigalko | Zhigalko_Sergei | 3121 | 159 | |
| 10 | GM | Matthias Bluebaum | Msb2 | 3020 | 158 | |
| 11 | IM | Renato Terry | MITerryble | 3032 | 157 | |
| 12 | GM | Jose Ibarra | jcibarra | 2979 | 141 | |
| 13 | FM | Gravity_Chess | 2945 | 139 | ||
| 14 | NM | Janak Awatramani | 12teen | 2937 | 139 | |
| 15 | GM | Vugar Rasulov | vugarrasulov | 2914 | 137 | |
| 16 | FM | Petros Trimitzios | TrimitziosP7 | 2952 | 120 | |
| 17 | GM | S.L. Narayanan | IndianLad | 2982 | 119 | |
| 18 | FM | Kagan Aydincelebi | Ritual2003 | 2803 | 117 | |
| 19 | GM | Zbigniew Pakleza | Byniolus | 2827 | 115 | |
| 20 | GM | Pranav V | vi_pranav | 3049 | 113 |
Bullet Brawl is an exciting new titled arena that features Chess.com’s top bullet specialists and now takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $2,500.
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!
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