Tang Defeats Naroditsky, Retains Hyperbullet Title

Almost a decade on from his viral victories against Leela Chess in ultrabullet, GM Andrew Tang has proven he is the quickest player on Chess.com for the second year in a row following a successful title defense in the 2025 Chess.com Hyperbullet Championship.

Tang won the fourth qualification tournament ahead of 651 participants to book his spot in the knockout finals, where he overcame GMs Sergei Zhigalko, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Andy Woodward in the winners bracket. A thrilling grand final showdown with GM Daniel Naroditsky was the final hurdle for Tang and he won this 11.5-9.5 to retain his hyperbullet championship title.

Bracket

Standings/Prizes

Qualifiers: Heavyweights Collide

Eight of Chess.com's hyperbullet heavyweights progressed to Friday's double-elimination, match-based bracket final after winning their respective qualifiers. The qualifiers were well attended, with an average of 544 players and a range of 374 to 734.

Numerous 3000+ rated players bolstered the top end of the arenas, and plenty missed out on finals qualification, including the Chess.com King of the Hill Championship winner GM Mitrabha Guha, GM Aman Hambleton, GM Haowen Xue, and GM Abhimanyu Mishra.

GMs Tang, Emin Ohanyan, Naroditsky, and Bortnyk all successfully qualified for the second year running, with the former hoping to retain the championship and his long-standing reputation as one of the world's best hyperbullet players.

The first grandmaster to claim a spot in tomorow's finals is GM Emin Ohanyan! Congratulations for winning the third Hyperbullet Championship Qualifier! pic.twitter.com/FfcCiu4iEx

— Chess.com Community (@GreenPawns) June 12, 2025

Of the new qualifiers, the 15-year-old Chess.com Puzzle Rush champion and Under 16 ChessKid Youth champion Woodward was the most dangerous threat for the defending champion, especially considering he had climbed to a bullet rating of 3498 mere days before the event. 

Qualifier Results

Winners Quarterfinals: Naroditsky Starts With 13/14

Four blowouts in the winners quarterfinals made it crystal clear that Tang, Naroditsky, Woodward, and Bortnyk were the favorites to win the championship. Bortnyk's score of 19-3 against Uzbekistani FM Ernur Amangeldy was the best score of the day and he balanced pace and precision masterfully throughout.

Naroditsky sealed his semifinals spot equally as quickly as Bortnyk, winning 12 and drawing two of his first 14 games against IM Anthony Atanasov.

Based on Atanasov's 3116 rating at the end of the match, Naroditsky's performance rating in the first half of this quarterfinal was 3456, which, unbelievably, is still lower than Woodward's actual bullet rating was four days ago.

Tang and Woodward both had to overcome Zhigalko and Ohanyan in their respective quarterfinals and did so by enormous margins of eight and nine points. Woodward's 15-6 result against Ohanyan was particularly impressive, considering his opponent's 3271 rating, which puts him 11th on the Chess.com bullet leaderboard, one place higher than GM Magnus Carlsen. 

Teenagers have started infiltrating the top-10 positions on the leaderboards, with many playing ultra and hyperbullet time controls to accelerate progress.

Winner Semifinals: Woodward Posts Miracle Comeback, Tang Beats Bortnyk

The winners semifinals saw two classic matchups transpire, Bortnyk-Tang and Naroditsky-Woodward, and momentum played a role in both matches. Tang got off to a flying start against Bortnyk—the defending champion flagged his opponent in 57 and 71-move grinders and finished both games with less than two seconds on the clock.

Tang and Bortnyk traded wins for most of the match, until a hat-trick in games 14-16 gave Tang the buffer he needed to get over the line. In the first of these games, Bortnyk missed a chance on move 27 that may have changed the trajectory of the match.

The final score of 12-9 was unsurprisingly close, given that Tang's win rate against Bortnyk is just over 56 percent after more than 900 games on Chess.com.

Naroditsky's 51% win-rate over Woodward in upwards of 1300 games meant that this match was tipped to be even tighter. However, at 10-7 Naroditsky looked to have the match under control. Then, Woodward showed his best form of the day and won eight games in a row. The moment that kickstarted the streak was an endgame that seemed to throw Naroditsky off balance for the minutes that followed.

Notably, Woodward finished with more time on the clock than Naroditsky in all eight games, which he probably owes to his regular ultrabullet practice.

Winners Final: Pace Pioneer Meets Puzzle Champion

With less than 30 games between Tang and Woodward prior to the match, the initial games in this matchup involved the players putting our feelers and testing what they could get away with in terms of pre-moves. The first game did stand out though as Tang capped off the game with an incisive bishop sacrifice.

While the score stayed close to equal in the beginning, Tang soon pulled away after catching a few of Woodward's sly intermezzos. In the following example, Woodward played 14...Qg5? and many unsuspecting players would have already pre-moved 15.exd6 though Tang was ready and snapped back with 15.f4!, winning a piece.

The final score was 13.5-10.5 but the match was closer than the score appeared—several games ended in flag fall with the other player on less than one second.

Losers Bracket: Naroditsky Defeats Woodward, Clinches Grand Final Berth

Naroditsky and Woodward were the foremost competitors in the losers bracket and after Naroditsky routed Bortnyk 14.5-7.5, he won the rematch with Woodward 14.5-12.5 despite a stalemate mishap that necessitated an overtime game.

Most of the games in this match came down to time scrambles but the occasional brilliancy popped up. See if you can spot how Naroditsky forced checkmate in the 12th game of the match below.

Grand Final: Tang Retains Championship

And so, Tang and Naroditsky met in the grand final for the second year running and much like last year, Tang was forced to defend a one-point lead in the final game of the match. 

Naroditsky kept the position complex by hopping around with the knight pair but Tang didn't miss a beat, spotting every potential fork and slowly snapping up his opponent's loose center pawns before converting the win.

After 85 games against the quickest thinkers on Chess.com, Tang confirmed his second hyperbullet championship title in as many years, cementing his reputation as the best player with 30 seconds or less on the clock.

In the post-match interview, Tang gave insight into his strategy when it comes to selecting openings in bullet and hyperbullet chess:

"Usually I just try to stick to what I'm comfortable with, that's just pretty helpful in bullet in general, to be able to make quick moves in the opening and get moves you're comfortable with. Sometimes if I'm struggling against somebody I'll switch it up. With Black I play e5 or e6 depending on my opponent, so I do vary it up but I do try to stick to two openings with each color."

It also seems that old habits die hard as Tang admitted that he still uses the same type of mouse he did 10 years ago as he "likes the feel of it," and continues to leave copious tabs open on his computer while playing.

Tang will receive $750 and retain the title of the Chess.com hyperbullet champion, while each of the other finals participants will receive the rest of the $2,500 prize pool.

The Chess.com Hyperbullet Championship has returned in 2025 as part of the Chess.com Community Chess Championships. The qualifiers occurred between June 11-12, while the main event was on June 13. Eight qualifiers progressed to an eight-player double-elimination knockout. Matches consist of a 20-minute countdown clock format, with 30 seconds for each side for the entire game. The prize fund is $2,500.

Previous coverage:

• • Mitrabha Wins King Of The Hill Championship Ahead Of 3,500 Participants
  • Ignacio Unstoppable In 4 Player Chess Championship
  • Liam Hereford Crowned Atomic Chess Champion After Explosive Performance
  • Rogov Clutches 3-Check Championship In Grand Final Reset
  • 3-Check Community Championship Knockout Will Have No GMs
  • Naroditsky Comes Clutch In Final Rush, Qualifies With 7 Others
  • It's Tactics Time! The Chess.com Puzzles Championship Starts On January 16
  • Chess.com Community Championships 2025 Cycle Kicks Off January And Features 12 Events