Upsets, Blunders, And Brilliances Mark Last Day Of PogChamps 6, Ebere Crowned Champion

PedroPinhata

Updated: May 5, 2025, 5:04 AM | 41 | Chess Event Coverage

That's a wrap for PogChamps 6! Throughout the event, fans have witnessed many nerve-wracking moments and piece blunders. We also saw a first in PogChamps history: not a single stalemate in the entire tournament.

Ultimately, Ebere Eze became the sixth PogChampion after a clean 2-0 win against Sapnap, while Mongraal won the Consolation Bracket by defeating LydiaViolet.

Consolation Bracket: Mongraal vs. Linzor
Consolation Bracket: Filian vs. LydiaViolet
Consolation Bracket Final: Mongraal vs. LydiaViolet
Championship Bracket: WolfeyVGC vs. Sapnap
Championship Bracket: Ebere Eze vs Steve Nedoroscik
Championship Bracket Final: Sapnap vs. Ebere Eze

Championship Bracket

Consolation Bracket

Consolation Bracket: Mongraal vs. Linzor

It was a sad day for fans of Linzor, and even sadder for fans of castling. Mongraal played a clean match, twice going after Linzor's king and twice succeeding.

In the first game, Linzor took too many liberties with her pawns and got punished accordingly. That led to Linzor's first failed attempt at castling, and later to her demise:

That probably inspired Mongraal, who went for a "nice little combination" in the second game, again ending Linzor's hopes of castling:

After taking all his opponent's pieces, Mongraal took his time to deliver the final blow to end the match. Linzor, at one point, just couldn't take it anymore:

With that, Mongraal moved on to the Semifinals, and Linzor had to say her goodbyes to PogChamps, taking home $6,000.

Consolation Bracket: Filian vs. LydiaViolet

The second match was a tale of courage and resilience. The lower-rated LydiaViolet could not help but feel intimidated by Filian, who, at the height of her 800 rating, was surely intimidating.

But as it turns out, even Cows bleed. Filian's mighty opening could not withstand the "wall of pawns" led by the "Pawn General," LydiaViolet.

Lydia's aggressive play paid off. Despite pushing pawns like there's no tomorrow and refusing to castle, Lydia pounced on Filian's mistake to win the first game.

Her first-game win gave Lydia the confidence she needed for the second game. From a bad position, she found a tactic to trap Filian's queen:

Filian found some tricky defensive moves, but Violet held her own and eventually defeated her opponent to win the match and go to the Final. It was now time for her to get back at Mongraal, who said she was an "easy win" in the Group Stage.

Consolation Bracket Final

After six editions of PogChamps, I thought I had seen everything.

Boy, was I wrong.

The Championship Bracket Final was a show to behold. Allow me to set up the stage by sharing our Game Review accuracy score for the first game:

If you're thinking, "how is that even possible?" you're not alone. It all started with Lydia's signature play style, which involves moving only pawns and her queen in the opening. Surprisingly, that led to her winning a piece. A few moves later, and she was up another piece.

Though behind in material, Mongraal kept applying pressure with his pieces, which he did develop. True to her beliefs, Lydia kept refusing to develop, pushing GM Aman Hambleton to the limit.

That ultimately led to a series of blunders, and as time got low, both players gave up their queens. When the dust settled, Lydia had two pawns, two knights, and two rooks against Mongraal's three pawns and lone rook. Surely Lydia could win this, right?

Well, that's when the PogChamps magic happened. On move 42, Lydia finally developed her knight—right when that was one of the only moves she could play to lose. With this, Mongraal took the lead in the match.

After this absolute masterpiece of a first game, the match's second game was not that close. Mongraal found a good tactic and won Lydia's queen. Lydia fought on but ultimately lost game two when Mongraal kept his cool under pressure and found a checkmate.

With this, Mongraal finished first in the Consolation Bracket and took home $10,000, while Lydia finished second with an $8,000 prize.

Championship Bracket: WolfeyVGC vs. Sapnap

Who would win in a fight, 100 Sapnaps or one WolfeyVGC? The massive rating gap between the two would make you think Wolfey would have an easy time. It sure looked like that would be the case in game one, when Sapnap's only hope was pleading to the chess overlords for a stalemate, which never came.

But that first game loss was not about to crush Sapnap's hopes. Especially after he found a great tactic to win material right out of the opening in the second game:

Despite a few inaccuracies here and there, Sapnap played well and even found a nice knight and rook checkmate to win the second game. The match then went to tiebreaks, and Sapnap had a surprise lined up for Wolfey.

Yes, Sapnap played the Fried Liver, earning his second brilliant move of the tournament! Despite not following it up the best way possible, Sapnap recognized that his opponent's pawn weaknesses gave him good chances:

The affair quickly evolved into an endgame that was certainly above PogChamps level. Wolfey went wrong, and that's all it took for Sapnap to deliver a major upset and make it to the Championship Bracket Final.

Championship Bracket: Ebere Eze vs. Steve Nedoroscik

In a semifinal match of athletes, it was football (the one where you actually use your feet) against pommel horse (the one where there's actually no horse).

With two similarly rated players, there was no telling how the match would go. But when it started going, it went really fast.

Steve played a sneaky move that looked like a good tactic, but overlooked a check that ruined both his plans and his game. That led to a quick win for Ebere, who found a checkmate just a few moves later.

In the second game, Ebz kept playing ruthless chess. He was soon ahead in material and had a crushing attack, when Steve found a great tactic to turn the tables.

But chess is a cruel game, and often, one tiny mistake can squander a winning position. Steve was the last to blunder, dropping his queen and the match.

With the result, Ebere moved on to the Final to face Sapnap, while Steve was eliminated and netted $8,000 in prizes.

Championship Bracket Final: Sapnap vs. Ebere Eze

Tensions were high in the Final of the Championship Bracket. Ebere had proven so far to be a ruthless opponent, and Sapnap came in as the dark horse who could play brilliant attacking moves out of nowhere.

It started out with a great game by both players. The underdog Sapnap had a great position but missed a key attacking idea, which led to an unfortunate brain fart and piece blunder. From there, things went south quickly.

In their second game, Ebere spotted a way to trap his opponent's bishop, giving him a huge advantage out of the opening. However, Ebere postponed the capture and learned that sometimes, when you play with your food, you might get eaten instead:

Sapnap not only escaped with his bishop but also got into a very comfortable position. His active pieces were slicing off the board, and eventually led to a material advantage and very active pieces.

However, Ebere showed that he's as good at defending as he is at attacking. Showing great resilience, he managed to survive long enough to put Sapnap under tremendous time pressure. After a few mistakes by his opponent, Ebere quickly pounced and found a sneaky counterattack to checkmate Sapnap.

And just like that, Ebere won $20,000 and became the sixth PogChampion:

For his second-place finish, Sapnap returned home $14,000 richer and with quite a few good games on his resume.

How To Review

You can watch PogChamps 6 on Chess.com's Twitch and YouTube channels. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.GM Aman Hambleton, WFM Anna Cramling, WFM Alexandra Botez, and Andrea Botez.

Previous coverage:

Pedro Pinhata

Pedro Pinhata is the Writing Lead for Chess.com. He writes articles, feature announcements, event pages, and more. He has been playing chess since 2019 and lives in Brazil.