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Bortnyk Claims Gold Ahead Of 3 American Brawlers
Bortnyk posted a score of 237 en route to victory. Photo: BortnykChess/Instagram.

Bortnyk Claims Gold Ahead Of 3 American Brawlers

JackRodgers
| 20 | Chess Event Coverage

Bullet Brawl's third most prolific winner, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, added a seventh title to his resume and won $400 after outlasting Chess.com hyperbullet champion GM Andrew Tang and 21-time Bullet Brawl winner GM Daniel Naroditsky on Saturday. 14-year-old IM Andy Woodward also challenged for the podium but settled for the $100 fourth prize.

Greece's FM Anastasia Avramidou was the top-performing women's player and won $100 for her efforts while Cesar Frank Talledo Lagos notched 75 wins to retain the Community Brawl title.

The next Bullet Brawl will take place on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Rank Fed Title Username Name Rating Score
1 GM Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3197 237
2 GM penguingm1 Andrew Tang 3174 231
3 GM DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3187 213
4 IM Philippians46 Andy Woodward 3052 184
5 IM yosephtaher Yoseph Theolifus Taher 3055 181
6 GM ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 3063 179
7 GM GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3182 178
8 GM OhanyanEminChess Emin Ohanyan 2986 174
9 GM GM_dmitrij Dmitrij Kollars 3073 166
10 GM Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3040 162
11 GM jcibarra Jose Ibarra 3003 155
12 GM Jospem Jose Martinez 3051 154
13 GM hansen Eric Hansen 3008 149
14 GM frederiksvane Frederik Svane 2999 147
15 IM Kacparov Kacper Drozdowski 2996 135
16 IM MatyChess1 Matias Gormaz 2796 110
17 GM KaydenTroffChess Kayden Troff 2901 106
18 FM GoltsevDmitry2000 Goltsev Dmitry 2845 103
19 FM Arctic_Fox3000 2867 102
20 GM Azeryahu Gyula Pap 2848 98
(Full final standings here)

Earlier in the week The New York Times predicted that the U.S. would win 110 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and like in the quadrennial spectacle, the U.S. is always well represented in online chess events. Naroditsky, Tang, Woodward, and GM Christopher Yoo led the charge for Team USA in Saturday's Bullet Brawl; however, none of these titans could keep up with Ukraine's Bortnyk.

Bortnyk, who also won Titled Tuesday this week, plays on Chess.com under the U.S. flag because he resides in Charlotte, N.C.; however, his FIDE profile still shows him as a Ukrainian player. Image: BortnykChess/Twitch.

Bortnyk established a firm lead in Saturday's event after scoring an electric 18.5/20 in the first quarter, and his run was only stopped due to a fateful pairing with the world number-four GM Arjun Erigaisi. GMs Gata Kamsky, Tang, and Jose Ibarra all fell at the feet of the eventual winner, and even Naroditsky could manage only a draw with Bortnyk. Naroditsky had two more opportunities to derail Bortnyk's momentum, but each ended in draws.

Former world championship challenger Kamsky (pictured between GMs Kiril Alekseenko and Nihal Sarin) is a regular opponent for Bortnyk in online events. Photo: Biel Chess Festival 2021.

Arguably the most impressive of Bortnyk's games came in the second half, where he dispatched the 3009-rated IM Kacper Drozdowski in 11 moves and used a mere five seconds of his time! For those wondering how to replicate such a performance, the best chance is to play with 100-percent accuracy (which is easier said than done).

Bortnyk's ability to swoop on opportunities came to the fore on several other occasions, and this allowed him to keep his nose in front of Tang and Naroditsky.

See if you can find the problem with Black's 13...Nxe3??.

With Tang still tailing Bortnyk in the dying minutes of the arena, the Ukrainian pulled out all the stops to stay in front, even managing to flag back-to-back opponents in rook and king vs. rook and king endings. A six-point gap was all that stood between Bortnyk and Tang when the clock expired.

All three top finishers have connections to the Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina. Image: Charlotte Chess Center/YouTube.

Meanwhile, in the community event, a similarly tight finish played out. Coincidentally, the first- and second-placed players paired in the final game of the event, and Lagos was able to convert a bishop and pawn ending which embellished his victory.

All-Time Leaderboard

Bortnyk's seventh win will be added to the leaderboard soon.

How to review games?
The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.



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:

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