Death, Taxes, And Nakamura's Bullet Brawl Victories

FM JackRodgers

Updated: Jul 25, 2023, 7:25 PM | 46 | Chess Event Coverage

Three things in life seem to be a surety: death, taxes, and GM Hikaru Nakamura winning the $400 first prize in Bullet Brawl. Hours after securing victory for the fourth time in Chess.com's Bullet Chess Championship, Nakamura was back online again, cleaning up the field for the 152-player Bullet Brawl field for the seventh time since the inaugural edition.

With GM Magnus Carlsen taking a rest after falling at the hands of the American GM in the final, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk was clearly the second-best player on Saturday and claimed second place ahead of GM Jose Martinez.

IM Eline Roebers won the $100 highest-scoring female prize in a tight race with IM's Karina Ambartsumova and Anna Sargsyan while user DragonWizard02 prevailed in the Community event after scoring 56 wins, one draw, and only a single loss.

As always, the next edition of Bullet Brawl will take place next week on Saturday, July 29, 2023, at 10.00 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST.

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

Following his defeat in the Bullet Chess Championship, Carlsen graciously indicated that he believes Nakamura is better than him at that time control and highlighted his longtime rival as "insanely impressive."

I'm going to see if there's any more juice left in the bullet tank by playing Bullet Brawl on @chesscom today. Will be streaming it on https://t.co/bMKuOqBcSO. Send energy!
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) July 22, 2023

Nakamura's run on Saturday was consistent with each of his other performances in Bullet Brawl in 2023. Even with a larger field, he was able to sweep through the two-hour arena. The American superstar conceded just three draws and six losses, which paled in comparison to the 65 wins he scored.

Proving he still has juice left in the tank after a big week of bullet chess. Image: GMHikaru/Twitch.

Despite the time control, Nakamura put on an exhibition in a variety of different openings, including in the later stages of the event where he produced a model game on the white side of the Sicilian Defense: Grand Prix Attack.

Military precision created a series of puzzle-worthy moments throughout the event, and Nakamura's ability to force his opponent's resignation early helped him to build an insurmountable total of 235.

En route to second place, Bortnyk played destructive chess against his 3000+ rated colleagues and partly owes his placing to a 20-move dark-square domination over the eventual third-place Tang. Chess.com's Game Review produced a lofty performance rating of 3650 for the Ukrainian in the clash.

With one more Bullet Brawl due to take place before the start of the FIDE World Cup, there will still be a chance for Nakamura and Carlsen to lock horns in bullet chess before they potentially face off in their first classical encounter since Norway Chess 2023.

Following his meteoric rise back to the number two spot in the world, Nakamura has never been more ready to challenge his longtime rival and the chess world waits with bated breath.

Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Name	Username	Rating	Score
1		GM	Hikaru Nakamura	Hikaru	3326	235
2		GM	Oleksandr Bortnyk	Oleksandr_Bortnyk	3219	203
3		GM	Jose Martinez	Jospem	3177	182
4		GM	Andrew Tang	penguimgm1	3130	180
5		GM	Anish Giri	Azzaro25	3166	173
6		GM	Rasmus Svane	rasmussvane	3055	163
7		GM	Benjamin Bok	GMBenjaminBok	2946	156
8		GM	David Paravyan	dropstoneDP	3128	153
9		GM	Pranav V	vi_pranav	3043	149
10		GM	Sergei Zhigalko	Zhigalko_Sergei	3107	148
11		GM	Aleksandr Shimanov	shimastream	3039	142
12		GM	Shant Sargsyan	Sargsyan_Shant	3003	140
13		GM	Dimitry Andreikin	FairChess_on_Youtube	3042	137
14		GM	Matthias Bluebaum	Msb2	3017	134
15		GM	Eric Hansen	hansen	3038	128
16		NM	Janak Awatramani	12teen	2982	127
17		GM	Tuan Minh Le	wonderfultime	3076	127
18		GM	S.L. Narayanan	Indianlad	2973	125
19		GM	Nihal Sarin	nihalsarin	3251	124
20		IM	Terry Renato	IMTerryble	3013	119

Bullet Brawl is an exciting new titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists that now takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $2,500.

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:

Death, Taxes, And Nakamura's Bullet Brawl Victories

Nakamura Outshines 8 Former Bullet Brawl Winners, Claims 34th Title

Martinez Captures 4th Bullet Brawl Title Ahead Of Nakamura, Naroditsky, Tang