Terry Pulls Off Bullet Brawl, Freestyle Friday, 3 0 Thursday Trifecta
Peruvian IM Renato Terry achieved a groundbreaking feat after pulling off the first Chess.com titled arena trifecta by taking out Saturday's Bullet Brawl.
Terry held his nerve and streaked his way to 156 points, outdoing the second-through-fourth place-getters: GMs Arjun Erigaisi, IM Faustino Oro, and GM Emin Ohanyan. The top four will receive $400, $250, $150, and $100, respectively.
Vietnamese WFM Hoang Minh Tho Do finished in 18th and was the winner of the $100 best women's prize.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, April 11, at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CET.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Longest Streak |
| 1 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3256 | 156 | 13 | |
| 2 | GM | GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3256 | 149 | 9 | |
| 3 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3188 | 135 | 6 | |
| 4 | GM | OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 3174 | 131 | 8 | |
| 5 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3192 | 130 | 12 | |
| 6 | GM | HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 3127 | 127 | 7 | |
| 7 | IM | yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 3134 | 124 | 8 | |
| 8 | IM | johnathan113 | Johnathan Bakalchuk | 3016 | 116 | 6 | |
| 9 | CM | NikaVolkov | Nika Volkov | 3028 | 110 | 5 | |
| 10 | GM | Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3108 | 102 | 6 | |
| 11 | GM | bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 3048 | 98 | 7 | |
| 12 | IM | beatles_22 | Jurica Srbis | 2904 | 95 | 4 | |
| 13 | CM | eloficialwslf | Wilberth Sebastian Lopez Fuentes | 2946 | 92 | 5 | |
| 14 | IM | ProfessorChess101 | Yichen Han | 2922 | 88 | 7 | |
| 15 | IM | IlanSchnaider | Ilan Schnaider | 3007 | 88 | 5 | |
| 16 | FM | AnasKhwira9 | Anas Khwira | 2766 | 86 | 6 | |
| 17 | CM | RakanDasa | Rakan Dasa | 2816 | 85 | 5 | |
| 18 | WFM | mw86 | Hoang Minh Tho Do | 2821 | 85 | 5 | |
| 19 | FM | WindWhistler11 | Daniel Gutiérrez Olivares | 2780 | 85 | 4 | |
| 20 | FM | Aevengho | Aleksandre Edisherashvili | 2787 | 84 | 6 |
(Full final standings here.)
Terry has always been a threat in Chess.com's weekly titled arenas, but recently he has reached a new stratosphere of success. With 3 0 Thursday and Freestyle Friday wins under his belt already this week, Terry came into Saturday's Bullet Brawl with momentum, but winning was not going to be easy.
The likes of GMs Arjun, Tuan Minh Le, Ohanyan, and a trio of Iranian powerhouses—GMs Sina Movahed, Bardiya Daneshvar, and IM Reza Mahdavi—were just some of the formidable opponents standing in his way.
Le got off to a flying 13/14 start in the first quarter of the arena thanks to aggressive play. Even when he found himself in worse positions, such as in his game with Turkish FM Kaan Ozcan, Le kept the door open for comebacks by keeping his pieces active and encouraging obscurity.
Notably, the only GM that Le played in his initial streak was Arjun, and when they came face to face in the second quarter, Le's progress slowed. Three draws against Arjun, Oro, and Terry, as well as a loss to the later, created a vacuum at the top.
For Terry, the timing couldn't have been better as he was starting to build what would become a 19-game unbeaten streak. The opponents that Terry bowled over during this period were no joke either; 11 of his wins were against players with Chess.com bullet ratings over 3000.
Against Daneshvar, Terry launched a fishing pole trap-inspired attack that his opponent swallowed hook, line, and sinker. A missed checkmate in six then saw Daneshvar claw his way back, forcing Terry to play another 20 moves before he delivered checkmate.
The leader also benefited from some pre-moves going his way that led to quick wins. Terry played the rare Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack against CM Nika Volkov and won his opponent's queen on the third move.
Although the final quarter of Terry's tournament saw him drop multiple points, none of his competitors could build a strong enough streak to rival his 13 straight wins from earlier. Arjun's consistency made him a threat; however, Terry scored two key victories over the world number-10 to cement a seven-point victory.
The first of these wins was particularly dramatic as Terry found himself down by nine seconds in an equal rook and pawn ending. With six seconds on the clock, Terry telegraphed Arjun's next move and chose the right time to break with a pawn.
With this being his second victory, Terry is now the only IM to win two editions of Bullet Brawl.
All-Time Leaderboard
| Player | All-Time Wins | 2026 Wins | 2025 Wins | 2024 Wins | 2023 Wins |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 54 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 15 |
| GM Daniel Naroditsky | 32 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 10 |
| GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | 16 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| GM Andrew Tang | 15 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| GM Ediz Gurel | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| GM Jose Martinez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GM Yagiz Erdogmus | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Nihal Sarin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| IM Renato Terry | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Jeffery Xiong | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Sam Sevian | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Alireza Firouzja | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Matthias Bluebaum | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Tuan Minh Le | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Yoseph Taher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| IM Reza Mahdavi | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
How to review games?
The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.
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!
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