Nakamura Wins a Seventh Straight Bullet Brawl With 178 Points

GM Hikaru Nakamura has now won seven Bullet Brawls in a row. On Saturday he scored 178 points to win the latest edition, finishing ahead of 218 titled players in the arena.

The gap to the field was decided early. Nakamura had a 23-game winning streak in the early stages, which effectively assured the victory long before the clock ran down.

The rest of the top four

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk took second with 146 points. That was 32 behind the winner, a margin that shows how far Nakamura was out in front.

IM Yoseph Taher finished third, a single point behind Bortnyk. IM Aleksandr Usov was fourth with 134 points.

Best woman

WIM Melika Mohammadi won the $100 best women’s prize on tiebreaks.

Why the streak matters in an arena

In an arena format, points reward sustained winning, and streaks typically score extra. A run of 23 straight wins in the opening stretch puts a player so far ahead that rivals have to take risks just to close the gap. That plausibly explains why the result looked settled so early.

It is also a reminder of how the bullet format suits Nakamura, who is well known for his speed and his bullet play on streaming platforms. Titled opposition, 218 strong this week, did not change the outcome either.

Next up

The next Bullet Brawl begins Saturday, October 31, at 12 p.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST. Nakamura will be going for an eighth consecutive win.