Naroditsky Wins 25th Bullet Brawl Title Ahead Of 252 Titled Players
In the wake of stellar performances at the 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships, GM Daniel Naroditsky won the first Bullet Brawl of 2025 with a score of 246, bagging the $400 first prize and closing the gap between himself and GM Hikaru Nakamura to nine wins on the all-time leaderboard.
IM Karina Ambartsumova won the $100 best women's prize once again after scoring 89 points, while the community event was topped by Bullet Brawl regular, Sundram "SpeedyBoss" Kumar.
The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, January 11, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3210 | 246 | |
| 2 | GM | penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3186 | 227 | |
| 3 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3214 | 212 | |
| 4 | GM | RaunakSadhwani2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3072 | 211 | |
| 5 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3209 | 203 | |
| 6 | GM | legendisback1 | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 3184 | 189 | |
| 7 | GM | ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3066 | 164 | |
| 8 | GM | Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3145 | 164 | |
| 9 | GM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3126 | 158 | |
| 10 | GM | joppie2 | Jorden Van Foreest | 3016 | 147 | |
| 11 | GM | gurelediz | Ediz Gurel | 3097 | 142 | |
| 12 | GM | frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 3056 | 142 | |
| 13 | FM | TanitoluwaAps116 | Tanitoluwa Adewumi | 2868 | 137 | |
| 14 | IM | FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3041 | 134 | |
| 15 | GM | MikaelyanArman | Arman Mikaelyan | 2927 | 124 | |
| 16 | IM | jacky72 | Mihnea Costachi | 2903 | 123 | |
| 17 | GM | HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2978 | 123 | |
| 18 | GM | jcibarra | Jose Ibarra | 2921 | 123 | |
| 19 | IM | ToivoK3 | Toivo Keinanen | 3115 | 120 | |
| 20 | FM | Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2916 | 116 | |
A record-breaking 253 titled players joined Saturday's event, including the likes of GMs Nakamura, Andrew Tang, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Raunak Sadhwani, meaning that Saturday's brawl was one of the most difficult to win in the event's history.
Danya is back on top with his 25th #BulletBrawl win against a stacked field today 🔥🔥 Only Hikaru (34) has more! pic.twitter.com/sTTnFk01FY
— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 4, 2025
Naroditsky's blistering 9.5/11 start, with wins over IM Toivo Keinanen, GMs Frederik Svane, Sadhwani, Alan Pichot, Jose Martinez, and others, established him as one of the tournament frontrunners.
However, it wasn't until the second half of the tournament that Naroditsky's lead grew to 19 points off the back of streaks while other contenders fell by the wayside. Though Naroditsky managed just 1/4 against 34-time Bullet Brawl winner Nakamura, his single win came at a crucial time—during a streak that would stretch to a decisive 24 games.
Another victim of Naroditsky was Serbia's FM Milan Gagic, who was dealt with swiftly after an opening error in the rare Modern Defense: Standard, Pterodactyl, Eastern Variation, Rhamphorhynchus Variation.
When the eventual second-placed Tang finally snapped Naroditsky's streak, his response was emphatic. He rallied to score 12 straight wins to close out the tournament. By the time the arena clock expired, Naroditsky had 68 wins, one draw, and just 12 losses to his name.
For Tang, who won four editions of Bullet Brawl in 2024, it was a matter of quantity—the Chess.com hyperbullet champion lost fewer games (nine) than Naroditsky but also won fewer (64). His gameplay throughout the arena was right on brand: aggressive, and fast.
Naroditsky and Tang both have made significant jumps on the Chess.com bullet leaderboard, with the pair climbing a combined 28 spots to cement their top-10 positions. Notably, Naroditsky and the fifth-placed Bortnyk leapfrogged GM Magnus Carlsen while the five-time world champion was busy getting married in Norway.
All-Time Leaderboard
*Naroditsky's 25th win will be added 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!
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