Gurel Claims 2nd Bullet Brawl Title, Carlsen Joins Late Following 'Jeansgate'

GM Ediz Gurel captured first place and $400 in 2024's final Bullet Brawl, one week after falling short of his second title. Following their tussle at the top in the previous event, GM Oleksander Bortnyk fell three points shy of wresting the title from Gurel once again.

IMs Renato Terry and Toivo Keinanen finished third and fourth, respectively, while IM Karina Ambartsumova won the $100 best women's prize by a single point ahead of FM Anastasia Avramidou.

Following his controversial exit from the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2024, GM Magnus Carlsen also made a surprise appearance in the event and scored 21.5/25 after joining late.

The first Bullet Brawl of 2025 will take place on Saturday, January 4, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

In the final Bullet Brawl of the year, 203 of the world's quickest titled players participated. Despite several heavyweights missing the event due to the concurrent FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024, the arena was brimming with bullet chess talent. 

Aside from Carlsen, who joined too late to impact the podium, Bortnyk was the rating favorite, and no fewer than nine other players rated over 3000 participated: GMs Gurel, Dmitry Andreikin, Jose Martinez, Yagiz Erdogmus, Pranesh M, and IMs Terry, Keinanen, Yoseph Taher, and Eray Kilic.

As far as Carlsen is concerned, a Bullet Brawl win may be on his radar given his seemingly wide-open schedule heading into the new year. The five-time world champion has competed in several brawls in the past two years but a win has eluded him, making this one of the few events he has yet to win in his career. 

Does this mean I am the overdog™️ for 2025? https://t.co/1zzCxIVgWR

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 21, 2024

Much like in the previous edition, Gurel got off to a flying start, scoring 4/5 against world-class opposition such as Taher, IM Kacper Drozdowski, and Martinez. The 16-year-old's ability to conjure play out of thin air is most apparent in his game against NM Sounak Bagchi, which was his ticket to join the leading pack.

The greatest thorn in Gurel's side on Saturday was Bortnyk, who scored 5/6 against the eventual winner (almost 40 percent of Gurel's losses) but was less consistent against other opponents. None of Bortnyk's wins is particularly flashy; rather, sustained pressure and pace resulted in Gurel slipping in each.

Impressively, Bortnyk managed to squeeze in Bullet Brawl before heading to Wall Street to play the third day of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 and also managed to win a blitz tournament at the famous Marshall Chess Club ahead of GM Daniel Naroditsky on Friday evening.

It was a pleasure to have @DinaBelenkaya, @PeterGiannatos, @GmNaroditsky
,@BortnykChess and the @CLTchesscenter team at one of our biweekly FIDE Blitz tournament tonight!

Congratulations to GM Bortnyk and GM Naroditsky on securing clear first and second places, respectively! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/P0Nk3dYsZz

— Marshall Chess Club (@MarshallChessNY) December 28, 2024

In the end, Gurel was able to cut through the rest of the field, and when the arena clock expired, he stood alone at the top with 62 wins, three draws, and 13 losses for a total score of 218. To witness Gurel's tactical prowess first-hand, see if you can spot two of the tactical shots that helped him finish in first place in less than one minute.

Easy

Hard

*Focus on attacking the weak pawns around Black's king.

With this win, Gurel became the fifth player to win multiple Bullet Brawls in 2024, and he will be one of the favorites to win more editions in the new year.

All-Time Leaderboard

*Gurel's 2nd win will be added shortly.

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