News
Firouzja, Naroditsky Advance To Winners Final
Naroditsky won a marathon against Sevian to reach the Winners Final. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Firouzja, Naroditsky Advance To Winners Final

Avatar of AnthonyLevin
NM AnthonyLevin
| 34 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Alireza Firouzja and Daniel Naroditsky will meet in the Winners Final of the 2025 Bullet Chess Championship. Firouzja was a runaway train against GM Nihal Sarin, winning 17.5-6.5, while it took Naroditsky 32 games, with tiebreaks, to defeat GM Sam Sevian by the narrow 17-15 score.

There are just six players left in the Losers Bracket: GMs Jeffery Xiong, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Denis Lazavik, who are now joined by Nihal and Sevian.

Day three, featuring the Losers Round 3 and Quarterfinals as well as the Winners Final, is on Friday, June 27, starting at 12:00 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST.

It's just Firouzja and Naroditsky in the Winners Bracket.

Winners 

We saw the following eight players eliminated in the Losers Bracket: GMs Mitrabha Guha, Andy Woodward, Mahammad Muradli, Sergei Zhigalko, Tuan Minh Le, Arjun Erigaisi, Andrew Tang, and Yagiz Erdogmus.

Losers

 

Prizes have been distributed to the eliminated players as follows:

Winners Quarterfinals: Naroditsky Wins Marathon Match

Firouzja has, so far, won every match by double digits. He beat Xiong 13.5-3.5, then Erdogmus 15.5-5.5, and now Nihal 17.5-6.5. The defending champion has yet to be challenged.

It seemed the match had just started when Firouzja was already up 3-0. Game three, an opening disaster, lasted just 14 moves. When Nihal took the pawn on g2, he ensured an expedient death for his black bishop. 

Despite losing the match, the Indian GM showed his bullet prowess and talent in a number of time scrambles, like in the following rook endgame that should have been dead drawn. Even Firouzja got tricked by the repetition of moves.

But Firouzja won far more games than he lost. Firouzja took a 7.5.-2.5 lead when he turned a bad position into a winning attack, using tactics.

As far as best individual moves, Firouzja's cold-blooded 33...Rc6! was one of the best of the day. Calculated in advance—and in seconds—he saw that (a) the rook cannot be taken and (b) it prevents checkmate starting with 34.Qf6. Nihal collapsed.

Naroditsky, presumably getting ready for his own match with Firouzja, was watching. He typed the following words of praise in the Twitch chat for the opponent he'll play on Friday, noting that Firouzja made virtually no simple blunders despite the lightning-fast time control.

With the form he's been in, it's hard to believe anybody can beat Firouzja right now. But Naroditsky said in his interview at the end of the day, "I know people are burying me, but I'm at least going to try against Alireza."

I know people are burying me, but I'm at least going to try against Alireza.

—Daniel Naroditsky

As for the other semifinal match, Naroditsky and Sevian are far from strangers. They played in the Winners Semifinals last year as well; Naroditsky won that match by five points. This year, it was much closer.

At first, it looked like Naroditsky might run away with it just like Firouzja did when he shot out to a 9.5-4.5 lead. He was incisively punishing sloppy blunders, like Sevian's 26...Qg5?? with the idea of winning the bishop on g3. It ran into a one-move refutation.

He had a bit of luck too, like when he captured the last pawn in the following position to ensure a draw... with 0.1 second left!

But Sevian started to fight back, first bringing the margin down to three points, two points, and eventually one point. Naroditsky later explained that he felt he couldn't survive the openings when he had the black pieces, commenting on a game he played in the Pirc: "I got absolutely wiped off the board as per usual."

An early win in Sevian's comeback featured a checkmate with a pawn.

Just in the nick of time, Sevian managed to win the last game and bring the score to 12.5-13.5 when the timer ended. Because Naroditsky didn't have a two-point lead, the match would extend to tiebreaks with the following rules.

The momentum was undeniably on Sevian's side in the first two games. He should have won the first one, a rook endgame Naroditsky miraculously saved, but then tied up the match by winning the second. Naroditsky later reflected, "I honestly thought at that point, I was already kind of writing the narrative in my mind, okay, another choke... but somehow I just tried my best and I also told myself that Sam's also nervous, he's also human."

I just tried my best and I also told myself that Sam's also nervous, he's also human.

—Daniel Naroditsky

Naroditsky won by a two-point margin after six tiebreak games. The last two were disappointing losses for Sevian. In the first, a single mistake allowed Naroditsky's passed pawn to win the game with a single, accurate move.

Sevian hung a rook in the last game and that was the match, one that Naroditsky said "felt like it lasted 44 hours." 

Losers Rounds 1 & 2: Xiong, Bortnyk, Duda, Lazavik Stay Afloat

Of the four players to survive day two in the Losers Bracket, three of them had to win two matches. Bortnyk was the only player who started his day in Losers Round 2, and he won convincingly 14-6 against Woodward. He is simply one of the fastest players out there, as seen in the clip below.

After defeating Mitrabha 10.5-7.5, Xiong won 12.5-10.5 against Arjun, but he nearly committed what could have been the biggest self-destruction in BCC history. With the match timer nearly finished, all he had to do was prolong the games, but walking into a back rank mate-in-one on move 22 gave Arjun the chance he needed. Even not moving at all was arguably better, as it could have expended more time on the match clock.

Arjun won the next game with a checkmating attack to reach tiebreaks, but Xiong shut it down in the very first game. He won with the black pieces and could breathe a sigh of relief.

Although Duda's number 23 in the world in classical chess, his win against bullet and hyperbullet specialist Tang—after already defeating Zhigalko 11-7—was probably the most impressive match win of the day. He won 11-6, though he had moments of frustration, like when he blundered his queen and gave his table a good whack.

He wasn't the only player, by the way, to vent his frustration with a formidable thud.

Hambleton called the following game "beautiful" as the Polish fighter made use of his passed a-pawn, which was dormant for some time until it won the game.

Lazavik, who continues to prosper in Chess.com's tournaments no matter the format or time control, won his match against Le 12.5-5.5 and then against Erdogmus 13-6. While he's known for his solid style and python-like positional squeezes, sometimes it just came down to dirty flagging, as in the clip below.

You gotta do what you gotta do, as they say.

At the end of Friday, there will be just four players left in the event. The prominent question is: can Naroditsky unseat the reigning king of bullet chess?

How to review?

You can review the round's broadcast on the Chess.com YouTube or Twitch channels. The games can also be reviewed from our dedicated events page. 

GM Aman Hambleton and FM James Canty III hosted the broadcast.

The 2025 Bullet Chess Championship takes place on Chess.com from June 25-28, after Play-ins on June 23. It is the strongest online bullet tournament and determines who is the fastest chess player in the world. The time control is 1+0. The total prize fund is $50,000.

Previous coverage:

More from NM AnthonyLevin
Firouzja Eliminates Nepomniachtchi, Advances To Semifinal Vs. Nakamura

Firouzja Eliminates Nepomniachtchi, Advances To Semifinal Vs. Nakamura

Wei Yi Knocks Out Arjun, Advances With Sindarov, Esipenko

Wei Yi Knocks Out Arjun, Advances With Sindarov, Esipenko