Le Wins Bullet Brawl Ahead of Nakamura, Naroditsky
GM Tuan Minh Le started 2024 in style with a victory in one of the most stacked Bullet Brawl arenas ever held. GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky, who finished in second and third respectively, were tested by super-GMs Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Teimour Radjabov, who joined the fray. When all was said and done, Le stood alone at the top with 193 points and won $400 for his efforts.
IM Polina Shuvalova netted the $100 top female player prize after scoring 94 points, while Cesar Talledo Lagos won his third straight community brawl with 72 wins and 19 losses.
January's second Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.
Standings
| Rank | Fed | Title | Name | Username | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Tuan Minh Le | wonderfultime | 3139 | 193 | |
| 2 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura | Hikaru | 3208 | 189 | |
| 3 | GM | Daniel Naroditsky | DanielNaroditsky | 3218 | 189 | |
| 4 | GM | Christopher Yoo | ChristopherYoo | 3108 | 186 | |
| 5 | GM | Nihal Sarin | nihalsarin | 3154 | 181 | |
| 6 | GM | Oleksandr Bortnyk | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | 3286 | 175 | |
| 7 | GM | David Paravyan | dropstoneDP | 3109 | 169 | |
| 8 | GM | Jose Martinez | Jospem | 3097 | 151 | |
| 9 | CM | Eqor Baskakov | stollenmonster | 3006 | 150 | |
| 10 | GM | Anish Giri | AnishGiri | 3094 | 148 | |
| 11 | IM | Ediz Gurel | gurelediz | 3036 | 147 | |
| 12 | GM | Matthias Bluebaum | Msb2 | 3109 | 147 | |
| 13 | IM | Emin Ohanyan | OhanyanEminChess | 2924 | 143 | |
| 14 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | LyonBeat | 3111 | 143 | |
| 15 | IM | Matvey Galchenko | MatthewG-p4p | 3045 | 139 | |
| 16 | IM | Kacper Drozdowski | Kacparov | 3031 | 138 | |
| 17 | GM | Vi Pranav | vi_pranav | 3039 | 127 | |
| 18 | GM | Maciej Klekowski | maciek_92 | 2915 | 126 | |
| 19 | GM | S.L. Narayanan | IndianLad | 2893 | 125 | |
| 20 | IM | Elie Milikow | elm2007 | 2947 | 123 |
(Full final standings here.)
Despite finishing in the top three in many Bullet Brawl arenas in 2023, this was Le's first time claiming the title, and it took 58 wins, five draws, and 14 losses for him to reach the winning score.
Congrats to Minh Le for winning this week's hotly contested #BulletBrawl Arena 🔥
— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 6, 2024
He finished ahead of Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky to claim his first Bullet Brawl W! pic.twitter.com/6iq5MTMeWE
While the Vietnamese GM had no luck in defeating the 25-time combined winners (Nakamura and Naroditsky) in their encounters, Le was exceptional against the field's other super-GMs, scoring 1/1 against Vachier-Lagrave and 2/3 against Giri.
Le's endgame technique was on full display against the French number-two at the halfway point of the arena.
Naroditsky was one of Le's main challengers early in the event and as per usual, he pre-moved his way to numerous wins while streaming live on Twitch. For those curious about how long it takes one of the world's leading bullet chess players to checkmate with a queen and king, the answer is around two seconds.
Nakamura also tried in vain to steal the title from Le but came up four points short, needing a few more games to end quickly like in his 18-move rout of CM Matfey Yurasov. A loss to the 10-year-old Argentinian prodigy FM Faustino Oro in the dying minutes of the arena all but ended his hopes of a 16th title.
Oro's stellar performance in Saturday's Bullet Brawl also saw him go head to head with fellow phenom and 2023's ChessKid of the Year, 13-year-old FM Tani Adewumi. The game ended in a draw after a 66-move battle, and this will surely not be the last time the players clash.
Le's win in what was effectively the strongest edition of Bullet Brawl yet bodes well for the streamer, who will undoubtedly look to improve on his 11th-place finish in the 2023 Bullet Chess Championship.
How to review games?
The games from 2024's first Bullet Brawl can be found here.
Bullet Brawl is an exciting new 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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