Hikaru Nakamura shared his opinion on Magnus Carlsen’s skill in Bullet. Nakamura believes that Carlsen is not quite as good at Bullet without increment. Hikaru notes that Magnus plays as well as everyone else in Bullet with increment.

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura

World's No. 2

“Number one Hikaru, number two Hikaru on a bad day, and number three Magnus? I don’t think Magnus is actually all that good at Bullet.

At pure Bullet, I mean. Obviously, at Bullet with one second increment, he’s just as good as everyone else. With no increment, he’s not quite as good.”

Magnus Carlsen is No. 8 in the Bullet leaderboard on Chess.com. His Bullet rating is 3344 points, 49 points below Hikaru Nakamura.

Carlsen won the Speed Chess Championship 2025/2026 in February. Magnus defeated Alireza Firouzja 4 times, drew with him 2 times, and lost to him 3 times in the final of the event. Hikaru Nakamura took 4th place in the tournament. Nakamura lost to Denis Lazavik in the lower bracket final.

Credit: Lennart Ootes