Nakamura Scores 75.5/80 In Strongest-Ever Bullet Brawl

GM Hikaru Nakamura made a resounding statement in Saturday's Bullet Brawl, dominating the strongest edition in history after scoring 75.5/80 and accumulating 286 points. IM Yoseph Taher and GM Sam Sevian rounded out the podium, finishing well below Nakamura with 222 and 199 points, respectively, while GMs Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi came in eighth and ninth, respectively.

WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya won the $100 best women's prize for the second week in a row, and the community event saw a new victor, Canada's "TaroRoot."

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, March 8, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Just three players have won consecutive Bullet Brawls: Nakamura, GM Daniel Naroditsky, and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk. Although this is not Nakamura's first time achieving the feat, it is one of his most memorable performances.

75 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses.@GMHikaru just completed a dominant #BulletBrawl performance for the ages 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/YMot1gq284

— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 1, 2025

219 titled players enlisted in Saturday's brawl with three of the top five FIDE-rated players in the world—Carlsen, Nakamura, and Arjun—spearheading them. GMs Sevian, Nihal Sarin, Parham Maghsoodloo, Naroditsky, and Andrew Tang filled out the top end of the field, making Nakamura work harder than ever for victory.

A shocking, 91-move loss on time to IM Aaron Jacobson in the first game left Nakamura on the back foot; however, the 37-time winner responded emphatically, winning 28 games straight to catapult himself into a healthy lead.

A swarm of GMs, including Christopher Yoo, Bortnyk, Nihal, Tang, Naroditsky, and Sevian, attempted to stifle his progress, but to no avail. Against Yoo, Nakamura exhibited the relentless power of the bishop pair.

The toughest patch of play for Nakamura came around the midway point, when losses to GMs Tin Jingyao and Naroditsky, as well as a draw with Taher, forced him to reset. Because Nakamura lost just four games in two hours of bullet chess, these results and other oversights were inconsequential. 

With ice in his veins, Nakamura scored 41/42 to finish the arena, his only loss coming at the hands of the five-time world champion Carlsen.

Before falling to Carlsen, Nakamura stated the following in a clip jokingly titled, "Hikaru wants to push for 300 Elo": "If I can make it, I'm going to push for 300 (points) today." Had he defeated Carlsen and kept his streak rolling, it was mathematically possible.

Despite missing out on 300, 75.5/80 made Nakamura so uncatchable that he could forget about other competitors and focus on winning quickly and breaking records.

Taher's performance was also commendable—the Indonesian scored 63.5/77 and defeated Arjun, GM Guha Mitrabha, and even notched a 20-move win over the 2677-rated Iranian number-one Maghsoodloo.

Since Carlsen has yet to win an edition of Bullet Brawl, his participation in Saturday's event sets an exciting precedent moving forward, and this may be the start of weekly bullet showdowns between the best speed chess players of the current generation. 

All-Time Leaderboard

Bullet Brawl is an exciting 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