GM Hikaru Nakamura emphatically reaffirmed his position at the pinnacle of online speed chess by sweeping the inaugural 2025 Comet Open, which concluded on Sunday, 19 October. The new online tournament, featuring a rapid time control of three minutes per game with no increment, attracted a strong field of titled players competing for a sizable prize fund. Nakamura navigated the entire double-elimination knockout bracket, comprising 32 qualified players, without conceding a single match, a testament to his precision and nerve under pressure.
The Comet Open is a new online tournament that was open to all players as long as they played using the Comet Browser. There were two tournaments that occurred simultaneously, one for titled players and another for untitled ones.
While his overall performance was dominant, the path to the Grand Final was not without its white-knuckle moments. Nakamura was twice pushed to a deciding bidding Armageddon tiebreak: first against GM Parham Maghsoodloo in the Winners Quarterfinals, and again against GM Nihal Sarin in the Winners Semifinals.
In the Grand Final, however, he faced GM Denis Lazavik, who had fought his way through the Elimination Bracket. Nakamura wasted no time, winning the first game of the best-of-four match against Lazavik, who appeared to blunder a rook while under extreme time pressure. With the lead secured, Nakamura then skillfully held the line, drawing the subsequent three games to clinch the match with a final score of 2.5-1.5.
For his peerless performance and undefeated run in the titled event, Nakamura collected the top prize of $45,000. Runner-up Lazavik earned $30,000, having demonstrated incredible resilience to reach the Grand Final. GM Dmitry Andreikin rounded out the top three prize winners, taking home $20,000 for his third-place finish in the competition, which utilised the Comet browser and was hosted on Chess.com.
