Naroditsky Checkmates Firouzja In 5 Moves, Wins 3rd Straight Bullet Brawl

GM Daniel Naroditsky snatched victory from GMs Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja and secured his third straight Bullet Brawl title after chalking up two five-move wins over CM Volen Dyulgerov and Firouzja in the dying seconds of the arena. Naroditsky's final dash saw him finish on a score of 221, one point clear of the world numbers one and seven.

Naroditsky, Carlsen, Firouzja, and GM Tuan Minh Le took the top four spots and will receive $400, $250, $150, and $100, respectively, while FM Anastasia Avramidou took the $100 best women's prize.

The next edition of Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, January 25, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

The 88th edition of Bullet Brawl was the strongest in the event's history. Among the 239 titled participants were three of the world's top-10 players: Carlsen, Firouzja, and GM Hikaru Nakamura. The newly crowned FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion, GM Volodar Murzin, also participated and finished 24th, highlighting the depth of the field.

Having won the first two brawls of 2025, Naroditsky was not going to relinquish his title without a fight, and a spate of tactical flourishes saw him join a five-horse race for the top spot. The finest of these was his win over IM Polina Shuvalova, which featured a clinical conversion.

With Carlsen and Firouzja breathing down his neck, running away with the event was out of the question for Naroditsky, and twin losses to both players halfway through the event took a heavy toll on his title aspirations.

Pulling out all the stops, Naroditsky then went on a 25-game rampage to propel himself back into title contention. 

With several minutes left on the arena clock, Carlsen and Firouzja were neck and neck on 220 points and Naroditsky trailed behind, suffering the consequences of a shocking loss to NM Max Mottola.

Then the unthinkable happened. Out of pure desperation, Naroditsky attempted a four-move checkmate against Dyulgerov before using the same strategy against the 3203-rated Firouzja. Both times he was able to deliver checkmate on the fifth move, thanks to crafty pre-moves that would only work in bullet chess games.

Thanks to these wins, Naroditsky leapfrogged Firouzja and Carlsen and won the event with seconds to spare, moving one step closer to Nakamura's all-time record of 34 wins.

Nakamura did join Saturday's event but only played the second half, still managing to come in 12th with 38 wins, one draw, and two losses.

All-Time Leaderboard

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:

• • Announcing Chess.com Community Bullet Brawl Tournaments
  • Introducing Bullet Brawls And New Arena Options