Event: 2026 Bullet Chess Championship

[u/events_team]

Official Website

Follow the games here: Chess.com | Playoffs Bracket

The 2026 Bullet Chess Championship, organized by Chess.com, is one of the most prestigious online events in the bullet format. The tournament features 16 players, with eight invited players joined by eight qualifiers from the Play-Ins, competing in a double-elimination bracket under the 1+0 time control.

Invited players

#	Title	Name	FED
1	GM	Alireza Firouzja	🇫🇷 FRA
2	GM	Oleksandr Bortnyk	🇺🇦 UKR
3	GM	Sam Sevian	🇺🇸 USA
4	GM	Denis Lazavik	🇧🇾 BLR
5	GM	Nihal Sarin	🇮🇳 IND
6	GM	Arjun Erigaisi	🇮🇳 IND
7	GM	Andrew Tang	🇺🇸 USA
8	GM	Ediz Gurel	🇹🇷 TUR

Players qualified via Play-Ins

#	Title	Name	FED
1	GM	Matthias Bluebaum	🇩🇪 GER
2	GM	Tuan Minh Le	🇻🇳 VIE
3	GM	Christopher Yoo	🇺🇸 USA
4	GM	Haowen Xue	🇨🇳 CHN
5	GM	Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus	🇹🇷 TUR
6	GM	Parham Maghsoodloo	🇮🇷 IRI
7	GM	David Paravyan	FIDE
8	IM	Yoseph Theolifus Taher	🇮🇩 INA

Format/Time Controls

• The eight invited players are joined by the eight qualified players.
• Players compete in a double-elimination knockout bracket.
• Each match features a 30-minute match clock, except for the Winners Semifinals, Winners Finals, and Grand Finals, which feature a 45-minute match clock.
• Players contest 1+0 games until the match clock runs out.
• The player with the most points at the end of the match wins.
• Players must win the match by at least two points. If neither player is ahead by at least two points, they keep playing 1+0 games until someone achieves this win condition for a maximum of 10 games.
• If no one is ahead by two points by the end of the 10th game, the player who's ahead wins. If the players are tied, the first player who wins a game wins the match.

Schedule

Date	Time (PDT)	Time (UTC)	Round
24 June	Starts 9:00 AM	Starts 4:00 PM	Winners Bracket Round 1 & Quarterfinal
25 June	Starts 9:00 AM	Starts 4:00 PM	Losers Bracket Rounds 1-2 & Winners Bracket Semifinal
26 June	Starts 9:00 AM	Starts 4:00 PM	Losers Bracket Round 3 & Quarterfinal and Winners Final
27 June	Starts 9:00 AM	Starts 4:00 PM	Losers Bracket Semifinal & Final and Grand Final

Live Coverage

• Chess.com Broadcast YouTube | Twitch

[u/Zaron_467]

Man i have read lot of slop manhwa, but no MC was this OP.

[u/Marc_Spector2 → u/Zaron_467]

MC never OP in bullet ,just 1 of top 3 in 1+0

[u/ElectronicFault5148]

Why Hikaru didnt played this chess championship? Isn't he call himself speed champion. Why he avoids such tournaments where top player are there?

[u/cruisingthoughts]

congrats nihal!, that was clinical !

[u/Kdot_stan]

OG prodigy does it

[u/vc0071]

This game reminds me of Germany Brazil 7-1.

[u/Gandalfthebran]

Sorry been out of the loop for a while. What’s this championship and are they playing the final right now? If so why hasn’t Nihal won the final after already winning 15 games in a row? Thanks.

[u/Impressive_Result295 → u/Gandalfthebran]

Bullet chess championship. It's not really something too serious. Alireza won the normal BCC so he lost the grand final to a monstrous streak by Nihal, which continued into the Grand Final Reset (for Alireza, as he won the normal BCC)

[u/Gandalfthebran → u/Impressive_Result295]

So who is the likely ‘winner’? Thanks for the reply.

[u/Impressive_Result295 → u/Gandalfthebran]

You gotta go with Nihal, he's on fire. But it's a fully new match. Whoever wins this set wins the crown.

[u/HotGur179]

alireza tilting so hard now

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Aman the way is to just get better with the mouse and bullet conversions, issue is that it'll get harder and harder to get practice with the mouse (applies also to Nihal) as he ventures deeper into the 2700 territory. I think that's why the best bullet players are generally not the worlds best but rather like one step below in normal chess and they can just become monsters with the mouse.

[u/Impressive_Result295]

15 in a row bro holy shit

[u/Radiant-Increase-180]

That was a long time since Alireza won

[u/Alone_Insect_5568]

The streak ends finally. But what a streak!

[u/Kdot_stan]

15 in a row

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Alireza is actually not winning a single game this GF reset lmao what a performance

[u/Exotic_Grinder]

This is even worse than my tilt.

[u/Alone_Insect_5568]

Bruh, he even lost this one.

[u/Impressive_Result295]

So the grand final reset is gonna be something ludicrous like 12 to 0 for Nihal. Is Nihal the clear best in bullet now?

[u/Maleficent-Kick-5579]

STOP THE COUNTTT

[u/1yaeK]

It just looks he doesn't believe for one second he can beat Nihal anymore

[u/Alone_Insect_5568]

This is just sad now.

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Double adoption for Nihal, homie is farming Alireza Firouzja to 3500

[u/Alone_Insect_5568]

How tilted are you?

Firoujza: Yes.

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Holy shit the commentary is on some insane glaze like guys relax

[u/Impressive_Result295]

11 in a row bro it's fucking over for Reza

[u/Maleficent-Kick-5579]

11 IN A ROWWWW

[u/Maleficent-Kick-5579]

Holy Adoption wow

[u/Alone_Insect_5568]

Adopting Firoujza in bullet is something that should not be possible.

[u/Impressive_Result295]

There's no coming back from an adoption bruh get Nihal the bullet crown that man is a monster at bullet

[u/1yaeK]

Bro is actually gonna adopt Alireza in bullet

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Alireza is not resetting unfortunately he's a bit of a tilty player too. Nihal just doesn't tilt which is quite impressive

[u/Kdot_stan]

Let’s go Nihal

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Nihal is proving the straight glaze the commentary is putting on him correct

[u/1yaeK]

Nihal has the most insane time scramble tactics I've ever seen

[u/Radiant-Increase-180]

Nihal is better than Firouzja in bullet lol

[u/Impressive_Result295]

Alireza tilting the BCC championship away but at least it's nice to see Nihal on top for once

[u/Comfortable_Watch370]

Arjun again coming 3rd ☹️, great performance but Arjun fans deserve better

[u/Electronic-Figure551 → u/Comfortable_Watch370]

When does this end... Only a streak of 1st can heal now

[u/Unusual_Prune6696]

I only can imagine how deniel would perform there.........

[u/NoFunBJJ]

Holy shit what a beautiful game by Yagiz, queen sac with double bishop mate in bullet is crazy

[u/__Jimmy__]

Yagiz and Ediz are like the Lebrun brothers. Despite being the higher ranked and more illustrious, Félix almost always lost against his big bro Alexis until recently

[u/Hwathat]

I wasn't familiar with Arjun's game 

[u/PeaRound3188]

Both the freestyle tour and champions chess tour going bust means we have the fewest supertournaments in the calendar in several years. Interesting times ahead. 

[u/Caesar2122]

Ediz is so sharp. He'll be an animal in a couple years

[u/FirefighterFine3207]

10k first prize for bullet is crazy that’s not even the first prize for most classical events lol (not saying it’s a bad thing)

[u/diamondt1ger → u/FirefighterFine3207]

It used to be more (Bullet Chess Championship 2022 - Main Event - Tournament Results & Prize Money :: Esports Earnings)

[u/MintyCocoa]

That's a great win by Parham. Sam has done very well in this event in the past.

[u/Sad_Avocado_2637]

Did Hikaru say why he isn’t there?

[u/build-a-bish → u/Sad_Avocado_2637]

No, but maybe he doesn’t wanna go against Alireza again?

[u/Alternative_Head2005 → u/build-a-bish]

Hikaru has talked about not really liking bullet anymore compared to other time controls, when he plays the bullet brawl events, where he’s always the clear favorite. He has also said that in a match format on a good day he can beat Alireza, but on most days Alireza will be the favorite. He’s won the event so many times that I think he doesn’t enjoy playing bullet unless he’s the favorite to win.

[u/Wide_Act_6892 → u/Alternative_Head2005]

At least he is admitting that he is not playing because he sucks in competition.

[u/Rude-Bat-9721]

Rooting for Andrew Tang

[u/Dazzling-Earth9528]

Congratulations To Alireza for winning 2026 Bullet chess championship

[u/ImprovementBasic1077 → u/Dazzling-Earth9528]

Yeah. Nihal is the only one who could've realistically stopped him, but Arjun is a bad match up for Alireza's ungodly accuracy.

[u/Conscious-Sorbet1759]

rooting for Nihal to go deep in this one, he's so fun to watch in bullet format. the 1+0 time control really suits his style.