Tang Clinches 3rd Bullet Brawl
GM Andrew Tang achieved his third Bullet Brawl victory of the year on Saturday. He started and ended the tournament with winning streaks, ultimately scoring 68 wins and 241 points.
With a 24-game winning run, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk was close on Tang's heels until the final moments, finishing second to win $150. GM Jose Martinez won third with 197 points, earning $100.
IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya scored 89 points to win the $100 best women's prize. Sundram Kumar mirrored Tang's 241 score to win the community event by a 40-point margin.
The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, September 14, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | ||
| 1 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3180 | 241 | |||
| 2 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3174 | 231 | |||
| 3 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3126 | 197 | |||
| 4 | GM | nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3171 | 192 | |||
| 5 | GM | Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 3079 | 187 | |||
| 6 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3078 | 173 | |||
| 7 | IM | MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3042 | 169 | |||
| 8 | IM | yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 3043 | 158 | |||
| 9 | GM | ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3050 | 157 | |||
| 10 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3003 | 156 | |||
| 11 | GM | mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 3001 | 144 | |||
| 12 | GM | Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3021 | 140 | |||
| 13 | FM | GoltsevDmitry2000 | Goltsev Dmitry | 2922 | 122 | |||
| 14 | GM | vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3012 | 120 | |||
| 15 | IM | Zurability | Zurab Javakhadze | 2891 | 113 | |||
| 16 | IM | mind1mover | Vuk Damjanovic | 2842 | 113 | |||
| 17 | GM | RaunakSadhwani2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3027 | 112 | |||
| 18 | IM | blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2906 | 111 | |||
| 19 | IM | Rutricks | Rubén Domingo Núñez | 2811 | 109 | |||
| 20 | IM | Chessmissile07 | Suresh Harsh | 2837 | 107 |
(Full final standings here)
With the two most frequent top scorers―GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky―competing in and commentating for the Speed Chess Championship Finals, it was a wide open tournament for the other Bullet Brawl regulars.
Tang kicked off the tournament with an 11-game winning streak, including victories over Bortnyk and Martinez. Tang defeated Bortnyk in the ending, but the latter overlooked a stunning tactical opportunity in the middlegame.
When Tang had another 11-game run, he seized the tournament lead from Bortnyk. Employing a rare gambit on move two, Tang built up a suffocating kingside attack to win a miniature vs. IM Darko Doric.
It continued to be a two-horse race between Bortnyk and Tang. In the last 15 minutes, Bortnyk went on a tear, scoring 24 victories in a row to rapidly gain ground on Tang.
In his 77-move duel vs. Martinez, the Ukrainian grandmaster's king survived a dangerous tango with the enemy queen and knight in the middlegame before he outplayed his rival in the ending.
With just two minutes left in the arena, GM S.L. Narayanan caught Bortnyk with an onslaught against his king trapped in the center, halting his opponent's streak and dashing Bortnyk's hopes of catching Tang.
Bortnyk was the only other competitor to surpass 200 points, turning in a final score of 231. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old tournament leader finished with seven straight wins to clinch victory with 241 points. Tang turned his queenside invasion into a dangerous king attack in his slugfest vs. GM Leon Mendonca.
All-Time Leaderboard
*Tang's 3rd win will be added to the leaderboard shortly.
How to review games?
The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.
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:
Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West
