Nakamura Surges To 42nd Bullet Brawl Title Ahead Of Terry, Hansen

GM Hikaru Nakamura cruised to victory in Saturday's Bullet Brawl, posting a score of 184 to finish 40 points ahead of IM Renato Terry and two more ahead of GM Eric Hansen. The win, which earned Nakamura $400, increased his career titles to 42, eight of which have come in 2025.

The winner of the $100 best women's prize was Iranian WIM Mitra Asgharzadeh, who scored a square 100 points to clinch the prize ahead of WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, while American user "BigDog2008" took out the community event.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, July 5, at noon ET/17:00 CEST.

Standings

(Full final standings here.)

June's final Bullet Brawl clashed with the Grand Final of the 2025 Bullet Chess Championship, meaning that regular heavy hitters like GMs Alireza Firouzja, Daniel Naroditsky, and Oleksandr Bortnyk were unable to join the two-hour arena. Irrespective of the absentees, the event still attracted a formidable field, headlined by Nakamura. GMs Andy Woodward, Hansen, Emin Ohanyan, Dmitry Andreikin, David Paravyan, Guha Mitrabha, and a slew of bullet-loving IMs made sure that Nakamura had to work for his 42nd title.

A shock loss to 18-year-old Twitch streamer and NM Shelev Oberoi in the first game and a subsequent loss to Woodward three games later seemed to galvanize Nakamura—he then responded by scoring an unbeaten 14/15.

Despite gallant defensive efforts, Armenian CM Volodya Torosyan was one of the players felled by Nakamura off the back of relentless pressure.

At the halfway point, Nakamura held a commanding 31-point lead over the then second-placed GM Tuan Minh Le; however, his lead grew when Le withdrew and the chasing pack cannibalized each other's streaks. 

After dropping another game to Woodward and a second to Le, Nakamura notched a 16-game winning streak, which included a gritty win against Andreikin. As his competition struggled to build streaks, Nakamura turned a healthy lead into an insurmountable one.

One of Nakamura's most clinical finishes came against FM Evgenij Lesovoi—an incisive exchange sacrifice left the light squares around Lesovoi's king exposed, and checkmate soon followed. See if you can spot the continuation that Nakamura played during the game below.

The battle for third place was a tighter affair, and two players, Terry and Hansen, were the chief contenders for the $250 prize. In the end, a 101-move marathon between the players went a long way in deciding their podium placements as just two points separated them when the arena clock expired.

At the halfway point of the year, Nakamura and GM Andrew Tang have won a combined 15 titles, which is four more than all other participants combined, and Nakamura's all-time win rate is over 37% after 111 editions of Bullet Brawl.

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, 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