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Tang Clinches 3rd Bullet Brawl
Tang was uncatchable as he sailed to his third Bullet Brawl victory. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Tang Clinches 3rd Bullet Brawl

NM_Vanessa
| 14 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Andrew Tang achieved his third Bullet Brawl victory of the year on Saturday. He started and ended the tournament with winning streaks, ultimately scoring 68 wins and 241 points. 

With a 24-game winning run, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk was close on Tang's heels until the final moments, finishing second to win $150. GM Jose Martinez won third with 197 points, earning $100.

IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya scored 89 points to win the $100 best women's prize. Sundram Kumar mirrored Tang's 241 score to win the community event by a 40-point margin. 

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, September 14, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Rank Fed Title Username Name Rating Score
1 GM penguingm1 Andrew Tang 3180 241
2 GM Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3174 231
3 GM Jospem Jose Martinez 3126 197
4 GM nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3171 192
5 GM Indianlad S.L. Narayanan 3079 187
6 GM wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 3078 173
7 IM MITerryble Renato Terry 3042 169
8 IM yosephtaher Yoseph Theolifus Taher 3043 158
9 GM ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 3050 157
10 IM Kacparov Kacper Drozdowski 3003 156
11 GM mitrabhaa Mitrabha Guha 3001 144
12 GM Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3021 140
13 FM GoltsevDmitry2000 Goltsev Dmitry 2922 122
14 GM vi_pranav Pranav V 3012 120
15 IM Zurability Zurab Javakhadze 2891 113
16 IM mind1mover Vuk Damjanovic 2842 113
17 GM RaunakSadhwani2005 Raunak Sadhwani 3027 112
18 IM blitzking1729 Srihari L R 2906 111
19 IM Rutricks Rubén Domingo Núñez 2811 109
20 IM Chessmissile07 Suresh Harsh 2837 107

(Full final standings here)

With the two most frequent top scorers―GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky―competing in and commentating for the Speed Chess Championship Finals, it was a wide open tournament for the other Bullet Brawl regulars. 

Tang kicked off the tournament with an 11-game winning streak, including victories over Bortnyk and Martinez. Tang defeated Bortnyk in the ending, but the latter overlooked a stunning tactical opportunity in the middlegame. 

When Tang had another 11-game run, he seized the tournament lead from Bortnyk. Employing a rare gambit on move two, Tang built up a suffocating kingside attack to win a miniature vs. IM Darko Doric

It continued to be a two-horse race between Bortnyk and Tang. In the last 15 minutes, Bortnyk went on a tear, scoring 24 victories in a row to rapidly gain ground on Tang.

In his 77-move duel vs. Martinez, the Ukrainian grandmaster's king survived a dangerous tango with the enemy queen and knight in the middlegame before he outplayed his rival in the ending.

With just two minutes left in the arena, GM S.L. Narayanan caught Bortnyk with an onslaught against his king trapped in the center, halting his opponent's streak and dashing Bortnyk's hopes of catching Tang.

Bortnyk was the only other competitor to surpass 200 points, turning in a final score of 231. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old tournament leader finished with seven straight wins to clinch victory with 241 points. Tang turned his queenside invasion into a dangerous king attack in his slugfest vs. GM Leon Mendonca

All-Time Leaderboard

*Tang's 3rd win will be added to the leaderboard shortly.


How to review games?
The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.


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:

NM_Vanessa
NM Vanessa West

Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.

You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West

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