13-Year-Old Erdogmus Shows 'Top-10' Potential, Wins 2nd Bullet Brawl Title

13-year-old Turkish GM Yagiz Erdogmus added a second Bullet Brawl title to his ever-growing trophy case on Saturday after scoring 72/79 for a total of 258 points in the two-hour arena. Erdogmus won the $400 first prize ahead of GMs Ediz Gurel, Hikaru Nakamura, and 205 other titled players.

Polish WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya returned to the winner's circle and won the $100 best women's prize for her 110-point, 19th-place finish, while Sundram Kumar topped the community event with a score of 252.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, May 10, at noon ET/17:00 CEST.

Standings

(Full final standings here.)

The Bullet Brawl community has felt the indomitable rise of Turkish chess over the last 12 months, and in Saturday's arena, the country's two greatest prospects wrangled their way to first and second place.

The 38- and 27-time winners, GMs Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky, respectively, loomed as favorites pre-tournament; however, they couldn't hold pace with the Turkish prodigies. A host of hungry former winners, including GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk, Tuan Minh Le, and Nihal Sarin, made sure the event was a tight contest.

Erdogmus posted a 17/18 start, which included wins over Nakamura, Bortnyk, and GM Matthias Bluebaum, putting him in pole position early on. Gurel was the only player able to match his lively start, although a 17-move loss to Praggnanandhaa's in the Caro-Kann Defense snapped his compatriot's streak, allowing Erdogmus to pull ahead.

Gurel and Erdogmus eventually came face-to-face, providing a glimpse into what a future rivalry might look like between the pair. Playing the Scandinavian Defense, Erdogmus exerted pin pressure on the d-file and won a pawn by move 25. The pawn was the least of Gurel's worries—Erdogmus managed to seize control of the only open file and infiltrate White's camp. The conversion was swift and brutal.

Long streaks were the norm for the eventual winner on Saturday, though the nature of his wins was varied. Time scrambles, miniatures featuring king hunts, and positional grinds were all won by Erdogmus, demonstrating his balanced, universal playing style.

Against Serbian CM Dobrivoj Popovic, Erdogmus won in just 14 moves after clinically punishing his opponent's kingside weaknesses.

When the arena clock expired, the Turkish prodigies sat firmly at the top, matching their efforts from the first Bullet Brawl in April, albeit with reversed winners.  

This is another historic #BulletBrawl performance from the two Turkish prodigies 👏
Erdogmus 🥇
Gurel 🥈
Nakamura 🥉 https://t.co/YCQokk1Lrl pic.twitter.com/XR3SPGz2Pm

— Mehmet Ismail🐴 (@drmehmetismail) May 3, 2025

Nakamura lauded the skills of Erdogmus on his Twitch stream, citing him as the "most talented" junior due to his age, and followed this up by stating: "I think he is the best junior that I've seen by far; he can definitely be top 10 in the future." To quote an earlier comment from Nakamura's stream, "The kids are too good."

All-Time Leaderboard

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, 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