News
Firouzja Beats Naroditsky 22.5-10.5 In Winners Final

Firouzja Beats Naroditsky 22.5-10.5 In Winners Final

Avatar of AnthonyLevin
NM AnthonyLevin
| 32 | Chess Event Coverage

Defending Champion GM Alireza Firouzja continues to dominate the 2025 Bullet Chess Championship. He's won every match by 10 points or more, and his latest victim was GM Daniel Naroditsky, whom he defeated 22.5-10.5. There are three players in the Losers Bracket. First is Naroditsky, who will have a second chance in the Losers Final. GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Denis Lazavik will face off in the Losers Semifinal.

The last day, featuring the Losers Semifinals and Final followed by the Grand Final, will be on Saturday, June 28, starting at 12:00 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST.

Firouzja's in the Grand Final. Whomever he plays, his opponent will have to win two matches to get between him and his third BCC title.

Winners 


We saw the following eliminated in the Losers Bracket: GMs Jeffery Xiong, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nihal Sarin, and Sam Sevian. 

Losers


The prizes have so far been distributed as follows:

Winners Final: The Firouzja Train Keeps Rolling

Unlike matches in the Losers Bracket, the match timer was set at 45 minutes and not 30. The number of games didn't really help Naroditsky's case though.

While the match was even in the first three games, 1.5-1.5, in the next game Firouzja took a lead he'd never relinquish. Defending against a fearsome attack, 22...e5! was an incredible find, and somehow Black's king was impenetrable on the e6-hideout.

Several games later, Naroditsky executed what looked like a crushing rook sacrifice, but Firouzja had a trick of his own at the end thanks to the back rank. With this win, he led 5-2.

Part of the reason for the bloated score was a number of games Naroditsky resigned quickly, several times after making pre-move blunders in the opening. In his interview, Firouzja explained, "If he would not tilt, probably it would be a closer match for sure," adding, "It was unexpected because Danya nowadays is good at controlling his tilt. Anyway, I'll take it!"

If he would not tilt, probably it would be a closer match for sure.

—Alireza Firouzja

The tilt visibly crept in by game 13, when Naroditsky resigned quite early (according to Hambleton) on move 19. Black definitely had a losing position, but we've seen the impossible happen in bullet time scrambles.

But that was followed quickly by a resignation on move nine in the next game, after hanging a piece.

Firouzja won a 15-move miniature to take a 14-5 lead, showing just why it's not a good idea to leave the king in the center for too long.

The shortest loss was six moves after a tragic pre-move.

Later on, Naroditsky resigned on move seven.

Naroditsky simply applauded his opponent after he found a queen sacrifice for a puzzle rush tactic. What can you do?

While Naroditsky picked up wins here and there, Firouzja's match win was never in doubt. It was little consolation that Naroditsky even won the last game by what was a fully-preventable back-rank checkmate.

Despite his dominant showing, Firouzja still spoke highly of Naroditsky and said that, from the three players remaining, he'd prefer to play either of the other two. He called Naroditsky a "big favorite" to come out of the Losers Final on Saturday. And if that's the case, we'll see a rematch between the two bullet giants.

Losers Round 3 and Quarterfinals:

In Losers Round 3, we saw two former 2700s go down; Lazavik defeated Duda 10-8, while Bortnyk beat Xiong 14-5.

The match Lazavik vs. Duda was about as close as it could get. When Lazavik won the match by a two-point margin, it was the first time either player gained a two-point lead in the match.

After losing game one and drawing game two, Duda won the third with a devastating attack, after hanging the exchange and coming back from a losing position. 

Four games later, Lazavik showed off his own ability to carry out an attack.

Game eight would have been one of Lazavik's finest games in the match, where he carried out an attack after sacrificing a knight. Only at the end, in the time scramble, it was Duda who turned it around and won.

Lazavik was up by one point by the time the match clock expired. He won that last game with a nifty rook trap, from a position where he was worse.

Unlike the marathon tiebreaker between Naroditsky and Sevian on the previous day, this one lasted just one game. Lazavik won with an attack on the light squares, finally achieving that two-point lead and doing so when it counted most, ending the match.

On to Xiong vs. Bortnyk. While the match was close in the first four games, it got out of Xiong's hands very quickly after that. Bortnyk won the next eight games in a row.

In that long streak of wins, we saw two Botez Gambits from a demoralized Xiong. First, this one:

Not long after, we saw this.

With nine minutes left on the match clock, the score was 11-3 and virtually over. The following brilliancy was the nail in the coffin:

It was certainly the best combination of the match, and you can play through the moves at a slower pace here:

Next was the Losers Quarterfinals. Lazavik defeated Sevian 10.5-6.5, while Bortnyk put up the same score against Nihal.

The key portion of the first match occurred right after Sevian brought the difference in match score to just one point, 5.5-6.5 in favor of Lazavik. It looked like the start of a comeback, as in the next game he tied up the score by trapping his opponent's bishop on its starting square.

But that was his last win in the match; Lazavik went on to win the next four, though aided by his opponent's faulty internet connection. Sevian spent 14 seconds to move his king in the following position and Lazavik won on time soon after.

The American then played a brilliant game but lost on time, up a queen against a rook.

During a short break, Chess.com determined that the issue stemmed from Sevian's side and not the server, so the results for the last two games stood. They played one more game, which Lazavik won, and that was the match.

The other quarterfinal match was close until it wasn't, and boy did Bortnyk take off. The match was tied 4.5-4.5, but Nihal would win only one more game in the rest of the match while his opponent would notch up five.

The string of wins started with a one-move rook blunder by Nihal.

With a crushing attack on the light squares in just 22 moves, Bortnyk won again to take a two-point lead.

There were a few chances for Nihal to win on time, despite bad positions, but they hardly materialized. The next game, Bortnyk looked like he was going to lose on time when, with two seconds, he found a checkmate. Three games later, he pulled off a mate even with 0.2 of a second.

The most crushing game was the following, where thanks to an opening trap Bortnyk won a rook on move eight.

With a showing like this, Bortnyk will be a formidable threat against Lazavik in the Losers Semifinal. The winner of that match will play Naroditsky. Curiously, both Bortnyk and Sevian have already lost matches against Naroditsky earlier in this tournament.

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
Yakubboev Draws 1st Blood, Crosses 2700 Live Rating

Yakubboev Draws 1st Blood, Crosses 2700 Live Rating

Capital One Wins 2nd Title In NACCL Season 12

Capital One Wins 2nd Title In NACCL Season 12