GM Alireza Firouzja advanced to the Grand Final of the 2026 Bullet Chess Championship after defeating GM Arjun Erigaisi 13-11 in the Winners Final on Friday. The match went to tiebreaks after a close contest. Three players remain in the losers bracket ahead of Saturday's decisive rounds.
Firouzja took an early lead in the Winners Final but Arjun mounted repeated comebacks to tie the score multiple times. The match ended 11-11 after regulation, and Firouzja won the first two tiebreak games to secure the victory.
In the Losers Bracket, GM Nihal Sarin defeated GM Oleksandr Bortnyk 11.5-3.5 while GM Andrew Tang beat GM Ediz Gurel 9.5-5.5. These results left Sarin and Tang to face each other next, with the winner to play Arjun for the second Grand Final spot.
Day four is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 27. It will feature the Losers Semifinal, Losers Final, and the Grand Final. Firouzja holds two lives in the final match regardless of his opponent.
The tournament runs through June 28 on Chess.com with a $50,000 prize fund and uses a 1+0 time control.