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Nakamura Outspeeds Firouzja, Eyes 4th Bullet Championship Title

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Nakamura Outspeeds Firouzja, Eyes 4th Bullet Championship Title

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GM Hikaru Nakamura sits atop the Winners Bracket after defeating GM Alireza Firouzja in an electrifying final at the Bullet Chess Championship 2023 on Thursday. He awaits the player who will fight their way out of the Losers Bracket to meet him in the Grand Final for this year’s title. It’s now between Firouzja, GM Magnus Carlsen, and GM Daniel Naroditsky.

In a cutthroat day for the Losers Bracket, a number of bullet stars met the end of their journey. 

GM Andrew Tang started the day by defeating GM Jose Martinez but then saw his chances dashed by Carlsen in the quarterfinals. 

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk took out the crafty GM David Paravyan, but Naroditsky sent his friend home afterward in a match of mutually hypersonic speeds.

The action concludes on Friday, July 21, at 1:00 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST.

How to watch?

Winners – Final:

Losers – Round 3:

Quarterfinals:

Firouzja vs. Nakamura 16.5-12.5

Nakamura and Firouzja have a major bullet rivalry developing. Nakamura is the reigning champion with three championships under his belt, winning in 2019, 2020, and 2022. 2021 is notably missing from his collection, which is the year Firouzja won, defeating Nakamura along the way. 

Would this be Nakamura’s revenge? Or would Firouzja be the thorne in Nakamura’s event once again?

Firouzja scored the first victory, catching a little tactic in a seemingly calm position. Nakamura replied in kind, spotting a tactic in a deceptively peaceful position himself.

Position after Nakamura’s 16.Bxe6!!

Firouzja has an uncanny ability to win positions where he’s behind in material and time, even against the powerful Nakamura, setting him on a three-game winning streak. 

Dynamic ideas flew onto the board from both competitors. With his queen and knight caught in a fork, Nakamura spotted a remarkable counterblow. Can you find it?

White to move and win.

Nakamura fought to cut into Firouzja’s lead as the players alternated breathtaking tactical ideas.

Check out this mating combination Firouzja blazed onto the board. 

In the first half of the match, Nakamura seemed to be having trouble in the opening, and Firouzja carried a four-point lead. With great effort, Nakamura tied up the match twice, but Firouzja won the very next game each time.

All tied up a third time, Firouzja mouse slipped his king to d2, giving up his right to castle and a couple of tempi to bring his king back to safer waters. This gave Nakamura his first lead of the match with 14 minutes left. Nakamura increased it with a ruthless queen trap the next game.

Firouzja struck back, winning two in a row. In their fascinating game 23, it’s hard to tell who was playing for the win as both players haunted each other’s kings. 

With five minutes left on the match timer, the two most recent bullet champions remained in a dead even match, fighting to tip the scales in their favor. Then, Nakamura began to edge ahead.

In the penultimate game, as both players attacked the enemy kings castled to opposite sides, Nakamura found an unstoppable checkmate, growing his lead to three points with too little time left for Firouzja to come back. 

Nakamura has secured his seat in the Grand Final with two lives against whomever he faces, while Firouzja will get a second chance in the Losers Final to rise and challenge Nakamura once more. 

In his interview, Nakamura shared some of his match strategy:

“I do remember even from the last match that Alireza has that ability where he can get really low and you think you’re going to win, but he’s able to show just amazing technique…

I started changing my openings a little bit. I started getting certain positions that were easier to play. During the match, I was tinkering a little bit. I sorta figured out by the end of the match what I should do.”

Bortnyk vs. Paravyan 10-7

These intense competitors exchanged winning streaks, keeping the score very close throughout the entire match. 

Oddly, the match started out with five wins in a row for the black pieces. Paravyan broke the streak. After winning a third game with Black, he utilized his endgame technique to score the first victory with White, giving him an early two-point lead.
Bortnyk immediately retaliated with a four-game winning streak. 

Paravyan often gained a time advantage in the opening, due to his excellent preparation and understanding. Bortnyk himself noticed this trend: “He was extremely fast… I watched my clock, and I was down like 15 seconds every game.”

Yet, Bortnyk had a way of sneaking out of many time scrambles, no matter how much time he entered them with, especially excelling when the clock went under 15 seconds―ultrabullet speeds. Hess observed: “When both players get around 15 seconds, he gets into that next gear.”

In game 15, Bortnyk converted the endgame and checkmated Paravyan with just 0.3 left on his clock. 

Paravyan fought back, equalizing the score with six minutes left on the match clock―showing how closely matched these competitors are.

In the final game, down a bishop and 15 seconds, Bortnyk snuck out of certain disaster in the time scramble to reach a two-point lead in the nick of time, eliminating Paravyan’s hope of overtime. 

Hess summed it up: “Bortnyk, he does it so often: he stares defeat in the face, and he comes back.”

Tang vs. Martinez 10-7

In the very first game, Tang exhibited his standout ability to flag opponents. In the final seconds, he moved his rook en prise intentionally to prevent any checkmate possibilities―a blunder in different circumstances, startling his opponent long enough to run out of time. 

Tang was also capable of pulling off astounding comebacks. In a game where Martinez had three passed pawns marching down the board, the ultrabullet maestro turned the tables.

Martinez was a racing force of his own. As the match reached the halfway point, he tied up the score by venturing through dynamic chaos with his eyes on his slight yet decisive time edge. 

Tang began to pull ahead with a three-game winning streak. Martinez struck back, but Tang maintained his two-point edge as the minutes evaporated. 

In the last seconds of the penultimate game, Martinez’s heavy pieces were breathing down the neck of the enemy king. Martinez blundered his bishop, but Tang originally missed the hanging piece. However, Martinez blundered the same bishop yet again. This time Tang caught it with immediate checkmate. You can see the disappointment in Martinez’s eyes. 

In the final game, Martinez needed a fully pre-moved victory to preserve enough time on the match clock for another game. He tried valiantly and came close, but ultimately Tang ran out the time and drew the game, advancing to face Carlsen in the Losers Semifinals.

Carlsen vs. Tang 13.5-7.5

The world number-one faced the bullet specialist and the 2022 runner-up. Carlsen started out going 4-0. Tang tried to halt his streak with a clever discovered attack in game two.

Position after Tang’s 27.Nd1!

Yet, Carlsen won anyway, catching Tang in a premove frenzy and stealing his rook.

Tang’s tactical abilities made the match a real fight. Despite Carlsen’s commanding early lead, Tang fought back to bring the score within two points. Then, Carlsen won the critical game 18, putting Tang in a must-win-two-in-a-row position.

Carlsen took the next, and it was all over, finishing with a five-point lead and ending Tang’s outstanding run. 

Naroditsky vs. Bortnyk 13-6

Naroditsky and Bortnyk are two players that know each other exceptionally well as good friends and co-creators of an opening course together, posing a unique challenge for each of them.

Game six displayed the sheer velocity of the battles between these competitors in an epic battle of premoves. Naroditsky was on the verge of running Bortnyk down, but the Ukrainian grandmaster was able to reach the 50-move rule just in time. 

Naroditsky began to pull ahead with his unique brand of crafty lightspeed play, able to flip worse endings into victories. 

Midway into the match, Naroditsky’s lead fell into jeopardy when he began to tilt, blundering his queen, not once but twice in a row. 

Yet, he rebounded to take back control of the match. Naroditsky stretched his lead to three points with this clever tactic. Can you find it?

Naroditsky’s lead simply continued to grow from there. In game 17, the players were so quick their game reached an unthinkable 135 moves. Watch the inhuman movement while staying aware of the position.

Naroditsky shared his state of mind during the different phases of the match: “The second half I was a nervous wreck, the first half I was a zen monk.”

Can Carlsen, Firouzja, or Naroditsky leap out of the Losers Bracket and defeat Nakamura twice in the Grand Final? Or will the world number-two collect his fourth championship?

Bracket

The Bullet Chess Championship 2023 (BCC) is Chess.com’s most elite bullet chess event and part of the Speed Chess Championship series. The event’s qualifiers happened on July 6 and 7, with the main event occurring on July 17 through 21. The fastest players in the world compete for their share of the $100,000 prize fund and a spot in the Speed Chess Championship’s main event.  

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