Bullet Brawl Jan. 20, 2024 - Nakamura Notches 31-Game Streak In Latest Bullet Brawl Victory

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With the 2024 Candidates Tournament mere months away, GM Hikaru Nakamura has shown no signs of reducing his online tournament participation, taking January’s third Bullet Brawl with a commanding score of 269. Amassing 72 wins in two hours, Nakamura scooped up the $400 first prize ahead of GMs Jose Martinez (217) and Andrew Tang (198) with his victory coming after a 31-game winning streak.

FM Anastasia Avramidou’s trophy cabinet also continues to grow as she won the $100 best female prize with a score of 77, while 16-year-old Sundram Kumar topped the 390-strong community event.

January’s final Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score
1		GM	Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3285	269
2		GM	Jospem	Jose Martinez	3155	217
3		GM	penguingm1	Andrew Tang	3171	198
4		GM	wonderfultime	Tuan Minh Le	3145	189
5		GM	Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3202	180
6		IM	MITerryble	Renato Terry	3134	179
7		IM	gurelediz	Gurel Ediz	3080	175
8		GM	Msb2	Matthias Bluebaum	3055	169
9		GM	iturrizaga	Eduardo Iturrizaga	2999	142
10		GM	Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	3032	141
11		IM	yosephtaher	Yoseph Taher	3022	137
12		GM	fredericksvane	Frederick Svane	2961	130
13		GM	SpeedofLight0	Andrew Hong	2902	124
14		GM	Durarbayli	Vasif Durarbayli	2897	116
15		GM	maciek_92	Maciej Klekowski	2883	114
16		CM	stollenmonster	Eqor Baskakov	2910	112
17		GM	ChristopherYoo	Christopher Yoo	2993	109
18		GM	K_A_S_T_O_R	Rodrigo Vasquez	2894	107
19		GM	rasmussvane	Rasmus Svane	2914	106
20		GM	dropstoneDP	David Paravyan	2961	101

(Full final standings here.)

Following a month-long dry spell, Nakamura managed to add a 16th Bullet Brawl title to his name in Saturday’s event after sweeping aside his main challengers, including past winners GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Martinez, as well as hyper bullet virtuoso Tang.

Nakamura’s Kick viewers played witness to his winning run. Image: Kick/GMHikaru.

In addition to the 72 wins on his winning scorecard were two draws and six losses. The prominent American GM’s lead was so monumental that he was able to stop playing with more than five minutes left on the arena clock. As Nakamura was streaming live on Kick, viewers wanted to see more and coaxed him into playing again, resulting in his losing to Tang and snapping his 31-game winning streak in the process.

A snapshot of Nakamura’s 31-game streak which gave him a wide buffer at the top of the standings.

One of Nakamura’s finest wins came against his 19-year-old compatriot GM Andrew Hong, where an opportune exchange sacrifice in the Sicilian Defense: Grand Prix Attack left Hong’s king exposed.

Though the win over Hong showcases his most spectacular chess, it is his 20-to-30-second miniatures against other titled players that gave him such an immense buffer over his rivals. Just 12 moves are all it took for Nakamura to force former super-GM Anton David Guijarro into submission after trapping his opponent’s pieces on the back rank.

While the third-placed Tang was unable to achieve the score required to win the event, his score earned him $150, and he put on a pure exhibition of speed and guile (which was also streamed live on his Twitch channel).

As the youngest 3000+ rated player in the field, IM Ediz Gurel also impressed with a seventh-place finish (175 points), knocking over NM Jesse James with a dark-square drubbing on the white side of a Sicilian Defense: Hyper Accelerated Dragon, Fianchetto Variation.

With the 2024 Candidates Tournament fast approaching, many of the event’s younger participants, such as GMs Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh Dommaraju, and Alireza Firouzja have opted to practice in classical tournaments; however, Nakamura seems content with using online events to stay sharp. Only time will tell which method pays off.

Streaming more Tata Steel coverage today as well as Titled Tuesday Early and Late. Will be on kick and twitch today – if you can’t find me on one, check the other. Here’s this week’s schedule. pic.twitter.com/gFBbiZWcbC

— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) January 16, 2024