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Nihal Sets Record With 56-Game Unbeaten Run
Nihal picked up his second Bullet Brawl title on Saturday. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Nihal Sets Record With 56-Game Unbeaten Run

JackRodgers
| 30 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Nihal Sarin soared to dizzying heights and amassed a total score of 294 in September's fourth Bullet Brawl. Thanks to 78 wins, six draws, and just three losses during the two-hour arena, Nihal finished ahead of 10-time victor GM Hikaru Nakamura (251) and GM Andrew Tang (214) en route to claiming the $400 first prize.

FM Anastasia Avramidou was the winner of the $100 best female prize once again. In Saturday's edition, she placed 15th overall, the highest positioning of a female player in Bullet Brawl so far.

In the 263-player strong community event, user "Carbonara_bonne" garnered a 237 score after winning 66 games and conceding nine.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will take place next week on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

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


A new multi-time Bullet Brawl winner has emerged in Indian prodigy Nihal and the Kerala native announced himself in style in the latest edition. Having reached the quarterfinals of the 2023 Speed Chess Championship and winning Titled Tuesday's late tournament four days ago, Nihal put on an exhibition in Saturday's event.

Courtesy of a second-placed finish in the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship, Nihal is one of the highest earners in online chess in the past year. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

In September's third edition, we reported that Nakamura had set a new record for the longest undefeated streak in Bullet Brawl history (46 games). However, history has been rewritten just seven days later with Nihal's 56-game unbeaten run. The world number-43's opponents were no easy-beats either, and his run featured an array of wins over dangerous GMs including Jose Martinez, Sergei Zhigalko, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Andrew Hong, and Shamsiddin Vokhidov.


Nihal's streak doesn't even fit on one page in the game archive. Image: Chess.com.

One notable aspect of Nihal's performance was his ability to win games in fewer than 30 moves, a skill that came in handy later in the event as he staved off a comeback from the indomitable Nakamura.

The eventual first- and second-place getters played only once during the two-hour arena, a game which the 19-year-old Sarin was able to win in a clinical fashion in a rook endgame arising from the Modern Defense.

Tang, who placed third, also made an impression with his tactical mastery, which was on full display in his 24-move victory over WFM Marija Larina and earlier against Iranian GM Amin Tabatabaei.

In Bullet Brawl events over the weekend, 108 titled and 263 untitled players participated, and with a healthy weekly prize fund on offer, the world's top bullet chess players will continue to pit themselves against each other in the popular arena.

Standings

Rank Fed Title Name Username Rating Score
1 GM Nihal Sarin nihalsarin 3235 294
2 GM Hikaru Nakamura Hikaru 3331 251
3 GM Andrew Tang penguingm1 3162 214
4 GM Daniel Naroditsky DanielNaroditsky 3224 208
5 GM Oleksandr Bortnyk Oleksandr_Bortnyk 3143 207
6 GM Jose Martinez Jospem 3092 185
7 GM David Paravyan dropstoneDP 3086 174
8 FM Arthur De Winter CrazyAdvenTures 2903 141
9 GM Andrew Hong SpeedofLight0 2924 138
10 GM Sergei Zhigalko Zhigalko_Sergei 3046 138
11 NM Qingyu Yuan Abund 2859 129
12 FM Dmitry Goltsev GolstevDmitry2000 2811 114
13 GM Cem Kaan Gokerkan ckgchess 2845 113
14 GM Leon Luke Mendonca LionTheLeon_06 2789 105
15 FM Anastasia Avramidou anasta10 2652 104
16 FM Reza Mahdavi rezamahdavi2008 3012 101
17 NM Vladyslav Lukiianchuk Vlad_Lukiianchuk 2738 99
18 FM Vedant Panesar Mysterio47 2700 95
19 CM Andrey Ermolaev PchelkinVK 2671 94
20 FM Armin Musovic arminmusovic 2677 93


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:

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