Naroditsky scored 252 points in the two-hour arena by achieving 70 wins, four draws, and seven losses.

Naroditsky Outclasses Bullet Brawl Field

FM JackRodgers

Updated: Oct 8, 2023, 4:14 AM | 17 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Daniel Naroditsky won October's first Bullet Brawl by a convincing margin of 44 points on Saturday, one week after claiming his fifth title. The U.S. GM's score of 252 was more than enough to secure the $400 first prize ahead of the second-place IM Renato Terry (208) and the third-place IM Yoseph Taher (205) who earned $250 and $150 respectively.

Of the 121 titled players participating, FM Anastasia Avramidou was the top-finishing female player and she won $100 for her efforts. Member "ExcitingBeast" was able to win 65 games and lose just eight en route to claiming the top spot in the community event.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, October 14, 2023, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

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

Much attention has been drawn to the rivalry that GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura share in speed chess, though it has to be said that in bullet chess, Naroditsky's name is absolutely worthy of being spoken in the same sentence thanks to his lightning speed and poise. Check out one of his most popular Twitch clips from 2020 featuring a hyperbullet game against GM Andrew Tang.

Having added a sixth Bullet Brawl title to his trophy cabinet, the articulate content creator has begun closing in on Nakamura's record of 10 titles and has won four more editions than his closest challengers (GMs Jose Martinez and Nihal Sarin).

Just five unique winners have been crowned in the 21 editions of Bullet Brawl. Image: Chess.com.

Naroditsky's victory on Saturday was one of his most dominant thus far and despite losses to Martinez and FM Petros Trimitzios early, a consistent performance throughout was what gave Naroditsky a wide berth from other contenders such as the second seed GM David Paravyan.

Naroditsky's intuition combined with his creativity makes him a dangerous foe in bullet chess. Photo: Benjamin Robson.

What truly allowed Naroditsky to stamp his authority on the match, though, was his precision against the tournament's top players, exemplified in his clinical win over compatriot GM Christopher Yoo. After employing his pet Jobava London System, Naroditsky found a temporary queen sacrifice that allowed him to win a pawn and gain a decisive advantage with 39 seconds left on the clock.

Brilliant knight sacrifices were also on the menu for the eventual winner during the two-hour arena. See if you can find some of the combinations that Naroditsky employed to convert against his opponents below.

While the 10-time winner Nakamura will likely miss October's second Bullet Brawl due to the upcoming Qatar Masters tournament, the battle at the top of the leaderboard will continue to heat up as Naroditsky draws closer to "la decima."

Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Name	Username	Rating	Score
1		GM	Daniel Naroditsky	DanielNaroditsky	3194	252
2		IM	Renato Terry	MITerryble	3060	208
3		IM	Yoseph Taher	yosephtaher	3082	205
4		GM	Jose Martinez	Jospem	3084	199
5		GM	David Paravyan	dropstoneDP	3113	192
6		GM	Christopher Yoo	ChristopherYoo	3045	190
7		IM	Matthew Galchenko	MatthewG-p4p	3036	168
8		GM	Rasmus Svane	rasmussvane	2946	160
9		GM	Sergeri Zhigalko	Zhigalko_Sergei	3001	148
10		GM	Leon Livaic	Elsa167	2913	145
11		GM	Vugar Rasulov	vugarrasulov	2959	127
12		GM	Aleksandar Indjic	Beca95	2886	123
13		CM	Daniil Rakitin	quvnoq_muxlis	2854	122
14		FM	Dachey Lin	1800_strength	2835	120
15		IM	Ruben Nunez	Rutricks	2763	115
16		FM	Petros Trimitzios	TrimitziosP7	2917	115
17		NM	Qingyu Yuan	Abund	2838	103
18		FM		WindWhistler11	2668	100
19		CM	Artem Bardyk	BardArtem	2760	95
20		FM	Igor Vakhlamov	Iball95	2733	94

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 $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:

Naroditsky Outclasses Bullet Brawl Field

Taher Becomes 9th Player To Win Bullet Brawl

Yisrael Becomes 1st Female, African-American National Master In U.S.