Bortnyk Battles His Way To 4th Bullet Brawl Title

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk scooped up his fourth $400 Bullet Brawl win and moved into third place on the all-time winner's list after scoring 227 points during 2024's second edition. GM Daniel Naroditsky (223) and IM Yoseph Taher (191) were the main challengers but neither could hold pace with the energetic Ukrainian.

IM Karina Ambartsumova squeezed past FM Anastasia Avramidou and IM Polina Shuvalova by a margin of three points to take the $100 best female prize, confirming this with a clutch win over FM Daniel Olivares in the final minute of the arena while Peru's Cesar Talledo Lagos once again dominated the community event, scoring 73 wins, four draws, and nine losses en route to a score of 266.

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, January 20, 2024, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Standings

(Full final standings here.)

Congrats to @BortnykChess on winning his fourth #BulletBrawl after a close race with Daniel Naroditsky! 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/hoe6m13WZz

— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 13, 2024

Twitch streamers' iron grip on Chess.com's weekly Bullet Brawl arenas has continued with Bortnyk becoming the latest player to win while broadcasting live on his channel. Of the 36 arenas held since the event's inception, just six unique winners have been crowned, and fascinatingly, all have a streaming history.

Although Bortnyk scored fewer wins than the second-placed Naroditsky during Saturday's event, losses and draws were rare for the Ukrainian as he prioritized his king's safety and played at his usual lightning-quick pace.

While his king sat tucked away, the same could not be said for Bortnyk's opponents, and many titled players, including GMs with ratings over 3000, had their kings chased to the middle of the board.

See if you can spot how Bortnyk stunned GM Mitrabha Guha on the 14th move of their encounter!

Two duels between Naroditsky and Bortnyk did little to separate the leaders in the standings, although the eventual winner's victory over his American rival was an instructive lesson regarding liquidation into a decisive endgame.

Battling against lag, Bortnyk held his nerve and procured an 11-game winning streak in the final 20 minutes of the event before losing his last game (which proved inconsequential) against IM Zurab Javakhadze.

For Ambartsumova, positive scores against her usual rivals (1.5/2 against Avramidou and 2/2 against Shuvalova) laid the platform for a prize-winning run, and the 35-year-old IM barely put a foot wrong where tactics were concerned. This comes as no surprise for a player who boasts a five-minute Puzzle Rush score of 52.

Bullet Brawl is an exciting new titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists and 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:

• Announcing Chess.com Community Bullet Brawl Tournaments
• Introducing Bullet Brawls And New Arena Options