Gurel Responds To World Cup Elimination With Sizzling Bullet Brawl Victory

Following his round-two exit at 2025 FIDE World Cup, GM Ediz Gurel put on a tactical exhibition to capture his sixth Bullet Brawl title and the $400 first prize on Saturday. Gurel's final score of 157 saw him edge out GM Tuan Minh Le by a single point, denying the Vietnamese streamer of a first title since January 2024.

Le, IM Reza Mahdavi, and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk placed second to fourth, respectively; they will receive $250, $150, and $100 for their efforts. WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya was the top-performing women's player.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Standings

(Full final standings here.)

The chess grind never stops for the world's elite, On Saturday, two of the brightest chess stars— GM Gurel and IM Faustino Oro—played in Bullet Brawl, despite their World Cup campaigns finishing fewer than three days ago.

GM Jose Martinez was the most surprising participant, however. After delivering a sensational 2-0 drubbing to GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the third round of the World Cup, the 26-year-old played two games in Bullet Brawl before sensibly opting to rest.

GMs Andrew Tang, Haowen Xue, Sina Movahed, and Bortnyk filled the gap that Martinez left, along with 136 other titled players.

Gurel's start was somewhat sluggish for an eventual winner, but after a few hiccups, he started to dominate in most of his games. Against FM Bryan Enming Lin, Gurel launched a barrage against Lin's king and found no fewer than three brilliant sacrifices to cap off the game.

Gurel also came up against fellow prodigy Oro and dispatched him in 18 moves after the younger of the two popped a piece.

During this time, Le kept himself in contention with a 12-game streak that included wins over five GMs: Emin Ohanyan (twice), Movahed, Nitzan Steinberg, and Gurel. 

CM Volen Dyulgerov, aka "Witty Alien," is another player that Le had to overcome; resourcefulness was imperative to his survival during this period. Dyulgerov tried his utmost to produce pandemonium in the Englund Gambit, though it wasn't enough to topple Le.

On the home stretch, Gurel and Le came face-to-face on four occasions, and Gurel scored a resounding 3.5/4. In the second game, Le missed an opportunity to rupture Gurel's kingside pawn structure and soon found himself in a middlegame where his knight was outclassed by Black's bishop.

Although Gurel's performance was far from smooth sailing, back-to-back unbeaten streaks of 13 and eight in the last quarter helped get him over the line. When the arena clock expired, a single point was all that separated him from Le.

With his sixth Bullet Brawl title, Gurel now sits in fifth place on the all-time leaderboard and has double the titles of all the junior titlists combined.

All-Time Leaderboard

Bullet Brawl is an exciting arena featuring Chess.com's top bullet specialists. It takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $1,000. Like Titled Tuesday and Arena Kings, Bullet Brawl often features top GMs, including Hikaru Nakamura, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!

Previous coverage:

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