Firouzja beats Nakamura to win stacked Bullet Brawl as Carlsen trains for Total Chess debut in Budapest
Alireza Firouzja ended Hikaru Nakamura's Bullet Brawl winning run on 31 October, finishing ahead of a field that included Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen is training in Spain before Total Chess.
Alireza Firouzja won Chess.com's weekly Bullet Brawl on Saturday, 31 October, and ended Hikaru Nakamura's winning streak in the event. Chess.com described the field as arguably the strongest the event has had. Seven elite grandmasters took part, including world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, who logged on from Spain. He is training there for the new Total Chess World Championship pilot, which starts in Budapest next week.
Firouzja's late surge
The Bullet Brawl is a two-hour online arena played at one minute per player per game, with no increment. It runs every Saturday and has a US$1,000 prize fund. Firouzja finished on 170 points from 55 wins in 73 games. That put him four points ahead of Nakamura on 166 and seven ahead of Turkey's Ediz Gurel on 159.
Nakamura, who already had 72 Bullet Brawl titles according to Chess.com, looked set for another. He started with 14 wins from 15 games, beat Firouzja twice in that run, and built a 16-point lead in the final quarter of the arena. Then, at the 23-minute mark, he refreshed his page and accidentally joined a lobby game. He did not notice until it had finished, and his lead fell to 13 points.
Firouzja closed with 13.5 points from his last 15 games. He also beat Nakamura in their final meeting of the arena, which Chess.com says proved decisive.
The final top 10
- Alireza Firouzja, 170
- Hikaru Nakamura, 166
- Ediz Gurel, 159
- Matthias Bluebaum, 136
- Reza Mahdavi, 136
- Haowen Xue, 133
- Amin Tabatabaei, 129
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 125
- Semyon Puzyrevsky, 125
- Faustino Oro, 124
Arjun Erigaisi and Parham Maghsoodloo also played, alongside Carlsen. Melika Mohammadi won the women's prize. Firouzja took home US$400. The next Bullet Brawl is on Saturday, 7 November, at 12pm US Eastern time, which is 1am on Sunday, 8 November in Malaysia.
Carlsen's Spanish training camp
Carlsen's online appearance came during a training camp in Spain. Chess.com reported on 31 October that he was preparing at his holiday home with Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, his long-time coach Peter Heine Nielsen and English grandmaster David Howell.
Both Carlsen and Abdusattorov are in the 24-player field for the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. It is being held at the Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel from 10 November.
What is Total Chess?
Total Chess mixes three time controls in one competition: fast classical, rapid and blitz. In Budapest, a blitz Swiss decides the tiebreak rankings. A fast classical group stage follows, played at 45 minutes plus 30 seconds per move. The knockout matches then combine all three time controls, and wins in the longer games are worth more.
The Budapest event is a trial for a FIDE-approved tour that launches in 2027 and will crown a World Combined Champion. It comes just before the classical World Championship match in Geneva. Gukesh Dommaraju defends his title there against Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov, with games from 24 November to 12 December.
Key takeaways
- Alireza Firouzja won the 31 October Bullet Brawl with 170 points, four ahead of Hikaru Nakamura.
- Nakamura lost a 16-point lead after accidentally joining a lobby game mid-arena.
- Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Arjun Erigaisi were among the elite field.
- Carlsen is training in Spain with Nodirbek Abdusattorov before the Total Chess pilot in Budapest, which starts on 10 November.
- Total Chess combines fast classical, rapid and blitz chess, and a full FIDE-approved tour begins in 2027.
FAQ
What is the Chess.com Bullet Brawl? It is a two-hour online arena held every Saturday at one-minute bullet chess, with a US$1,000 prize fund. Players score points for wins over the course of the arena.
When does the Total Chess World Championship pilot start? It starts on 10 November 2026 at the Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel in Hungary, with 24 players including Carlsen and Abdusattorov.
When is the next Bullet Brawl in Malaysia time? It is on Saturday, 7 November, at 12pm US Eastern time. That is 1am on Sunday, 8 November in Malaysia.
Sources: Chess.com, Wikipedia (World Chess Championship 2026)