Bullet Brawl - Dec 16: Nakamura Wins Bullet Brawl With 27-Game Streak

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Bullet Brawl‘s undisputed king, GM Hikaru Nakamura, secured his 15th title and $1,000 in the latest edition of the tournament, finishing on 260 points with 71 wins, two draws, and eight losses. A 27-game streak, which included wins over chess personalities WGM Nemo Zhou and FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi, was the defining component of his run to victory.

Rounding out the podium were GM Daniel Naroditsky (235) and IM Yoseph Taher (190), who will receive $250 and $150 respectively for their efforts.

Once again, the winner of the $100 best female player prize was IM Karina Ambartsumova and her dominance of the category has been similar to that of Nakamura’s since the tournament’s inception.

The next titled and community Bullet Brawl arenas will take place on Saturday, December 23, 2023, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Name	Username	Rating	Score
1		GM	Hikaru Nakamura	Hikaru	3161	260
2		GM	Daniel Naroditsky	DanielNaroditsky	3159	235
3		IM	Yoseph Taher	yosephtaher	2990	190
4		GM	Oleksandr Bortnyk	Oleksandr_Bortnyk	3178	175
5		GM	Nihal Sarin	nihalsarin	3072	172
6		GM	David Paravyan	dropstoneDP	3059	169
7		GM	Vi Pranav	vi_pranav	3056	159
8		GM	Tuan Minh Le	wonderfultime	3032	159
9		GM	S.L. Narayanan	IndianLad	2922	134
10		GM	Giorgi Margvelashvili	TheSilmarils	2904	131
11		NM	Janak Awatramani	12teen	2872	130
12		GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	Harsha_Bharathakoti	2976	122
13		CM	Artem Bardyk	stollenmonster	2876	118
14		FM	Dmitry Goltsev	GoltsevDmitry2000	2781	116
15		GM	Gata Kamsky	TigrVShlyape	2850	116
16		IM	Alon Mindlin	Alonmindlin	2755	115
17		IM	Pablo Glavina	Eternauta2400	2776	111
18		GM	Vasif Durarbayli	Durarbayli	2861	106
19		IM	Karina Ambartsumova	karinachess1	2710	99
20		GM	Cem Kaan Gokerkan	ckgchess	2923	98

(Full final standings here.)

Following his exit from the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto, Nakamura has quickly settled back into life in Florida and hasn’t wasted any time resuming his streaming schedule on Twitch and Kick.

Nakamura is unlikely to play any over-the-board tournaments for the rest of the year. Photo: Thomas Tischio/Chess.com.

In December’s third Bullet Brawl, a slow start saw a 15-point gap open up between the American streamer and India’s GM Nihal Sarin, who posted a 10/11 start in the event. Sensing that Nihal was getting away from him, Nakamura opted to enter “cheese mode” (playing for quick wins no matter the cost) and was able to close the gap and eventually overtake his 19-year-old rival.

90 and 81-move encounters between the players were consequential during this time as both ended in favor of Nakamura. Time played a major part in the first game as Nihal was flagged just moves away from securing a draw by insufficient material, which would have also snapped Nakamura’s streak.

As is often the case in Bullet Brawl, the best runs normally include tactically-heavy miniatures and Nakamura’s tournament was no different. See if you can solve a selection of the problems the winner was faced with below.

And now it’s time to sacrifice!

Of the 104 participants in December’s third Bullet Brawl, few are better known than the 13-year-old Fide Master Adewumi, who, alongside being one of the world’s youngest chess masters, is also a published author and media personality.

Coverage of his story in the New York Times in 2017 brought Adewumi into the spotlight. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com.

Though Adewumi wasn’t able to sneak into a prize-winning spot, his 22nd-placed indicates that the future is bright for this young star and his giant-slaying qualities were on full display as he crashed through on IM Srihari L R’s kingside.

Bullet Brawl has now been held for 31 consecutive weeks and incredibly, only five unique winners have been crowned; Nakamura 15, (his 15th will soon be added to the leaderboard), Naroditsky (9), GM Jose Martinez (3), Nihal (2), and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk (2).

With only two editions left for the year, titled players will have the chance to join this illustrious group of players however will need to overcome Nakamura and Naroditsky, who have maintained their stranglehold over the event and are showing no signs of slowing down.

How to review games?
The games from December’s second Bullet Brawl can be found here.

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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