Alireza Firouzja
Hikaru Nakamura’s Bullet Brawl streak is over. GM Alireza Firouzja won Saturday’s arena on 170 points, four ahead of Nakamura, in what Chess.com called arguably the strongest field in the event’s history.
GM Ediz Gurel was third on 159 and GM Matthias Bluebaum fourth on 136. Nakamura had won the previous seven editions, the last of them on 178 points.
A field with Carlsen in it
The 232 players included seven super-GMs: Magnus Carlsen, who made a rare appearance logging in from Spain, Nakamura, Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, Amin Tabatabaei and Parham Maghsoodloo. Carlsen did not finish in the top 20.
GM Faustino Oro took 10th place, ahead of several of the super-GMs.
Nakamura’s lead, and a misclick
Nakamura started with 14/15, beating Firouzja twice along the way. In the first of those games he gave up his queen for a rook and bishop and outplayed him with his pieces. He also beat Bluebaum with the tactical shot 15.Bxe6!!.
By the start of the final quarter he led by 16 points. Then, at the 23-minute mark, he accidentally joined a bullet game outside the arena after refreshing his page, and only noticed when it was over. That cut his lead to 13, with Gurel and Firouzja still in range.
Firouzja’s finish
Firouzja then scored 13½/15 in the last quarter against top opposition. The decisive game was his last one against Nakamura. Playing the Caro-Kann as Black, he chose 2…d6 instead of the usual 2…d5, steering into an Old Indian setup, and won.
An 11-move win over GM Haowen Xue and a 25-move draw with Gurel then gave him the cushion he needed. His final score was 55/73.
The record books
It was Firouzja’s third Bullet Brawl win, putting him equal ninth on the all-time list despite playing far fewer editions than most players around him. Nakamura, who was bidding for his 73rd title, still has 72, more than twice as many as anyone else.
Firouzja took $400, Nakamura $250, Gurel $150 and Bluebaum $100. WIM Melika Mohammadi won the $100 prize for the best woman.
The next Bullet Brawl starts on Saturday, November 7, at 12 p.m. ET (18:00 CET).
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Original source: Chess.com
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