Bullet Brawl April 6, 2024: Naroditsky Dominates Back-To-Back Bullet Brawls

7 April 2024

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GM Daniel Naroditsky netted $400 and his second Bullet Brawl victory in a row on Saturday after scoring 260 points ahead of 122 other titled players. Scoring 72 wins in 83 games, Naroditsky put a healthy buffer between himself and second and third places, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk (222) and IM Yoseph Taher (214), respectively.

Picking up the $100 best women’s prize was WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, who managed to eclipse IM Meri Arabidze‘s score for the second week in a row. The community event, which runs concurrently with the titled one was topped by “Macmasterr,” who scored 77 wins and 11 losses.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Rank	Fed	Title	Name	Username	Rating	Score
1		GM	Daniel Naroditsky	DanielNaroditsky	3236	260
2		GM	Oleksandr Bortnyk	Oleksandr_Bortnyk	3206	222
3		IM	Yoseph Taher	yosephtaher	3069	214
4		GM	Tuan Minh Le	wonderfultime	3154	209
5		IM	Renato Terry	MITerryble	3076	193
6		GM	Pranesh M	artooon	2965	169
7		GM	Matthias Bluebaum	Msb2	3058	162
8		IM	Arash Tahbaz	Arash_Tahbaz	2911	150
9		IM	Eray Kilic	DonkyDonkyDonkey	2944	145
10		GM	S.L. Narayanan	IndianLad	2963	141
11		FM	Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov	Zohid6	2923	138
12		IM	Kacper Drozdowski	Kacparov	2922	134
13		IM	Andy Woodward	Philippians46	3035	125
14		FM	bubeliang	bubeliang	2847	121
15		IM	Harshavardhan GB	Legendinunknown	2860	120
16		FM	Dmitry Goltsev	GoltsevDmitry2000	2828	118
17		FM	Tanitolua Adewumi	TanitoluwaAps116	2840	118
18		GM	Giorgi Marqvelashvili	TheSilmarils	2921	114
19		GM	Jose Martinez	Jospem	3165	111
20		CM	Eqor Koshulyan	Eqor_Koshulyan	2779	110

(Full final standings here)

It’s back-to-back #BulletBrawl wins for @GmNaroditsky after he dominated today’s field with 72 wins! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KDyH6BEvBf

— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 6, 2024

In a field crowded with bullet chess maestros such as GMs Tuan Minh Le, Matthias Bluebaum, Bortnyk, and S.L. Narayanan, Naroditsky had his work cut out for him on Saturday but once again proved that he, alongside GM Hikaru Nakamura, are the kings of Bullet Brawl.

Naroditsky and Nakamura have claimed 36 of the 47 Bullet Brawl titles since its inception.

The Charlotte-based commentator kicked off the arena in style, scoring nine wins in his first 10 games and, thanks to his mouse skills, was able to stave off a winning attempt by 13-year-old ChessKid prodigy FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi.

Giant Killer: The ChessKid of the Year recently “Lefonged” Nakamura in a Bullet Brawl matchup.

In Naroditsky’s games against the eventual second-place Bortnyk, each result was decided with mere seconds on the clock, and an average of 80 moves were played in the three games. In their second game, which was a Sicilian Defense: Slow Variation, the erroneous 40.Nxf5? cost Bortnyk a shot at closing the gap between the leaders.

Naroditsky’s run home was the most impressive part of his performance, and if the Greek Gift sacrifices and a 14-move win against an IM were starting to make you think he was in a rush, you’d be right! Immediately after the arena had finished, Naroditsky joined commentators GM Peter Leko and IM Tania Sachdev on ChessTV for coverage of the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament.

The most picturesque finish of the day, though, occurred in Maltsevskaya-Yirik, where the Polish WGM found a clutch brilliancy to checkmate her opponent while down by a pawn. See if you can find the moves that helped Maltsevskaya win the $100 top women’s prize.

Following April’s first Bullet Brawl, Naroditsky is just six wins shy of overtaking Nakamura’s 21 tournament victories, and with the latter preoccupied with his quest for Candidates’ glory, Naroditsky will have every opportunity to reduce the deficit even more before his rival returns.