Vietnamese grandmaster Le Tuan Minh is enjoying the best spell of his career in online blitz and bullet chess, and the world's top players have noticed, according to Tuoi Tre. The clearest sign came from Hikaru Nakamura, the world No. 2 behind Magnus Carlsen, who said at a recent Bullet Brawl event that he was genuinely worried about facing Minh in sessions lasting around two hours and would feel more comfortable without him in the field. Chess.com published the remarks. Nakamura, the Japanese-American who dominates the event, had won Bullet Brawl 71 times before.
Timeline: June to October
| Date | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 9 June | Titled Tuesday | Third, unbeaten in 11 games (7 wins, 4 draws) |
| 25 July | Bullet Brawl | Won after a comeback against Nakamura |
| 30 July | Asian blitz championship, Hong Kong | Gold, unbeaten in 13 games (9 wins, 4 draws) |
| Mid-August | Southeast Asian chess championship, Singapore | Blitz gold |
| 18 August | Titled Tuesday | 12th title |
| 20 August | 3+0 Thursday | Won, completing a same-week double |
| 8 October | 3+0 Thursday | Won |
| 20 October | Titled Tuesday | Seventh |
Titled Tuesday is a weekly Chess.com event that draws elite grandmasters such as Carlsen, Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana.
The comeback, the streak and the double
The Bullet Brawl of 25 July showed what Minh can do under pressure. With 16 minutes left he trailed Nakamura by 20 points, then won game after game to collect 27 points while the American added only 7 points. Both finished on 159 points and Minh took the title on tiebreak. Chess.com journalist Jack Rodgers called it one of the most surprising comebacks in Bullet Brawl history.
On 18 August, Minh lost his opening game of Titled Tuesday, won the next nine in a row and drew the last to finish on 9.5 points from 11 games, edging Parham Maghsoodloo and Arjun Erigaisi on tiebreak for his 12th title. Writer Nathaniel Green highlighted his speed: the last two wins of the streak came on time in level positions, and in game 10 he beat Marco Materia with just 2.5 seconds left on his own clock.
Two days later he won 3+0 Thursday, becoming only the fifth player to win it and Titled Tuesday in the same week, alongside names such as Caruana, Erigaisi, Denis Lazavik and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Chess.com's Jeremy Kane singled out his win over Dmitrij Kollars, in which Minh sacrificed both rooks to set up a mating attack.
The form carried into October. On 8 October he won another 3+0 Thursday after opening with 8.5 points from nine games, prompting Chess.com to compare him to someone with the Midas touch. On 20 October he finished seventh in Titled Tuesday on 8.5 points from 11 games, having briefly joined the leaders after beating Dmitry Andreikin and twice drawing with Nakamura in the closing rounds, before losing the decisive game to Sina Movahed.
From law graduate to grandmaster
Born in Hanoi in 1996, Minh started playing at the age of eight at the 10-10 Sports School. Unlike many prodigies who turn professional early, he put his studies first, attending the Foreign Language Specialised High School and graduating from Hanoi Law University. He became national champion in 2020, won two gold medals at SEA Games 31 and became Vietnam's 13th grandmaster in 2022.
He was already known online before the title: in 2022 Lichess praised him after a run of 22 straight wins in its Bullet Titled Arena. At the 2024 Chess Olympiad he won individual bronze on board three, unbeaten in 11 games (7 wins, 4 draws), with a performance rating equivalent to 2,795.
What comes next
Tuoi Tre credits his tactical style, quick calculation and composure at decisive moments, not just his results, for the praise he now receives. With Titled Tuesday held every week on Chess.com, each new edition is another test against the likes of Nakamura, a player who has now admitted in public that he would rather not see Minh in the field.