Martinez Slam-Dunks Second Bullet Brawl Title
GM Jose Martinez won his second Bullet Brawl crown and $1,000 on Saturday with an imperious 209 points, eclipsing his nearest challengers, the second and third-placed GMs Sergei Zhigalko (190) and Andrew Tang (180) by multiple wins.
In a May edition that didn't feature the two-time winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura, Martinez was able to stamp his authority over the field with 61 wins, six draws, and 13 losses in the two-hour arena. IM Karina Ambartsumova of Russia was the top-performing women's player and won $100.
The next Bullet Brawl event will take place on June 24, 2023, at 10.00 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST.
How to review games?
The games from May's Bullet Brawl can be found here.
Martinez started May's Bullet Brawl as he did in the other editions with a blistering win streak. For the first 20 games of the event, the Peruvian was unstoppable and even scored wins against GMs Rasmus Svane, Tuan Minh Le, Benjamin Bok, and Tang.
Despite super-GMs like Fabiano Caruana and Dmitry Andreikin gracing the field, Martinez was able to oust them on the leaderboard due to his speed of play and ability to finish more games. Martinez's win over IM Jonny Cueto is a fine example of this arena strategy.
The eventual second-placed Zhigalko was hot on the heels of Martinez for much of the event and managed to defeat former world number-12 blitz player Andreikin in three out of four of their encounters, as well as GM Pranav Anand. When facing each other though, Martinez was simply the quicker player, winning both games.
With less than 30 minutes left on the arena clock, the two paired and reached a drawn endgame. When 10 seconds behind on the clock, Zhigalko made the blunder 40.Kg6??, losing to a tactic that Martinez found instantly and dashing any chance of a comeback.
One of the outstanding performances of the tournament is undoubtedly Kazakh FM Arystanby Isanzhulov. He was able to dispatch Pranav, Bok, and others on his way to a score of 106 (34 wins, two draws, and 10 losses). See if you can find how Arysya finished the job against Andreikin after a move-20 blunder!
Because Martinez and Nakamura have dominated the first four editions of Bullet Brawl, it will be interesting to see how this rivalry develops and whether any other notable speedsters will join the fray in June.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Jose Martinez | Jospem | 3129 | 209 | |
| 2 | GM | Sergei Zhigalko | Zhigalko_Sergei | 3106 | 190 | |
| 3 | GM | Andrew Tang | penguimgm1 | 3128 | 180 | |
| 4 | GM | Rasmus Svane | rasmussvane | 3049 | 168 | |
| 5 | IM | Terry Renato | MITerryble | 3077 | 160 | |
| 6 | GM | Tuan Minh Le | wonderfutime | 3130 | 154 | |
| 7 | GM | Nitzan Steinberg | Nitzan_Steinberg | 2898 | 136 | |
| 8 | IM | Matvey Galchenko | MatthewG-p4p | 2948 | 133 | |
| 9 | GM | Sanan Sjugirov | Sanan_Sjugirov | 2903 | 126 | |
| 10 | GM | Matthias Bluebaum | Msb2 | 3023 | 125 | |
| 11 | GM | Benjamin Bok | GMBenjaminBok | 2939 | 122 | |
| 12 | FM | Arystan Isanzhulov | Arysya | 2881 | 106 | |
| 13 | FM | Reza Mahdavi | rezamahdavi2008 | 2910 | 105 | |
| 14 | GM | Yury Piskov | fizmat_64 | 2886 | 101 | |
| 15 | GM | Dmitry Andreikin | FairChess_on_YouTube | 2934 | 101 | |
| 16 | NM | Janak Awatramani | 12teen | 2886 | 99 | |
| 17 | GM | Fabiano Caruana | FabianoCaruana | 3030 | 98 | |
| 18 | FM | Artem Odegov | Artem_0degov | 2803 | 96 | |
| 19 | GM | Aman Hambleton | KNVB | 2880 | 92 | |
| 20 | NM | Leonid Starozhilov | Leonid_Starozhilov | 2773 | 91 |
Bullet Brawl is an exciting new titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists on the last Saturday of every month. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control with a $2,500 prize fund.
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:
