Jynxzi, the celebrity protégé of IM Levy Rozman and one of Twitch’s most subscribed streamers, was crowned as the champion of Friday’s $100,000 PogChamps 6 7 tournament after he swept the top seed, ohnePixel, in the final.
Jynxzi, whose undefeated performance drew tongue-in-cheek comparisons to “2014 Fabiano Caruana” on X, was the deserved winner after dropping a 9.5/10 score across his group stage and knockout games.
Over 200,000 viewers were concurrently tuned into the PogChamps 6 7 final, showing that demand for celebrity chess shenanigans is stronger than ever.
Bracket
The latest iteration of PogChamps saw eight content creators—Jynxzi, Joe Bartolozzi, StableRonaldo aka. Ron, PlaqueBoyMax, ohnePixel, Steak, Agent00, and ExtraEmily duke it out in two four-player, double round-robin groups with blitz time controls.
The top scorers then progressed to a single elimination knockout bracket and played two-game mini-matches until an overall winner was declared.
Considering all eight celebrities entered with Chess.com blitz ratings under 700, everyone was in contention for the $30,000 top prize and recognition in the annals of PogChamps history. What many did not expect was that Jynxzi, who only started taking his chess seriously in early 2026 under the wing of Rozman, would win in such a dominant fashion.
HARD WORK PAYS OFF!!🗣️
Jynxzi goes 13 games straight without a loss and SWEEPS the PogChamps ⁶🤷⁷ finals to seal it!
Congratulations PogChampion @jynxzi! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/uTeiZQNdCu
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 11, 2026
Group A: Jynxzi Dominates, Bartolozzi Scrapes Through
Jynxzi kicked off his campaign in style, winning all six of his group A games and forcing the other three players in the group to fight for the second spot in the knockout. The heat of the moment also got to Jynxzi enough that he decided to play around half of his games without his shirt on.
In the curtain-raiser, the 24-year-old benefitted from streamer Ron giving the fans what many fans came for, the first of several Botez Gambits. The Botez sisters, who were commentating the event, were fitting narrators of the drama.
Ron then found himself in a commanding position in the reverse fixture after disorienting Jynxzi from the white side of the Caro-Kann. Like in their first clash, Ron lost his queen, although this time, he still had a winning position.
It was at this moment that Jynxzi showed the first signs of the resourcefulness that would help him win the tournament. By centralizing his queen on move 21, Jynxzi opened the door for his most powerful piece to run amok.
Since Andrea Botez was also the coach of Ron, she held a vested interest in seeing him succeed, though her misery would compound when Ron failed to ladder-checkmate Bartolozzi, a player he needed to beat to reach the knockout.
Proving he was the second-best player in the pool, Bartolozzi won a spiky second game with a checkmate that mirrored what Ron needed to do in their first matchup.
Group B: ohnePixel, Steak Book Knockout Spots
Like in Group A, Group B’s standings correlated with the players’ ratings, although it was a tighter affair at the top, thanks to strong resistance put up by his three challengers.
ohnePixel was the overwhelming rating favorite, and he had bolstered his strength by playing practice games with Romanian FM Cristi Coca before the event, but holes in his technical ability came to the fore when he stalemated ExtraEmily with a queen and king.
Against Agent00, ohnePixel suffered his first loss after falling victim to a discovered check. The game still twisted and turned right to the end, but the tactic helped earn the Canadian streamer an enormous scalp.
Aside from these setbacks, ohnePixel was the most consistent player in group B, and he and Steak, who overcame Agent00, were deserving of the knockout spots.
Knockout: Jynxzi Obliterates Challengers, Wins PogChamps 6 7
If the semifinals demonstrated anything, it is that the tournament’s two favorites, ohnePixel and Jynxzi, were capable of converting winning positions better than the other participants, but Bartolozzi was slightly more susceptible to stalemating.
Both players managed to win their ties with a 1.5-0.5 margin; however, Jynxzi saved a half-point while Bartolozzi threw a half-point away.
The much-anticipated final between Jynxzi and ohnePixel was a thrilling contest despite the 2-0 scoreline. In both games, the evaluation swung like a pendulum, and the players’ commentary added to the intensity of the match.
In their first game, Jynxzi’s trusty Jobava-Rapport London System spiralled into chaos.
With all the pressure on ohnePixel in the second game, Jynxzi controlled his nerves and punished his opponent for an ill-fated king walk.
After a lengthy celebration that included screaming, dancing, and calling out his coach, Rozman, Jynxzi was interviewed by the Botez sisters. Jynxzi said the following about his path to victory: “I was training on my phone at two a.m. in the morning, raging. I was committed to this. I wanted to win, I really wanted to win.”
When asked about whether he would continue playing chess, Jynxzi expressed his goal of reaching a 1000 rating on Chess.com, even if it “took two years.”
Elated by his student’s victory, Rozman would go on to call this tournament the “greatest chess tournament of all time.”
Greatest chess tournament of all time just happened
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) April 11, 2026
How to watch?
You can rewatch the PogChamps 6 7 broadcast on our Twitch page or enjoy the show on the Chess.com YouTube channel.
The live broadcast was hosted by WFM Alexandra Botez and Andrea Botez.
PogChamps 6 7 is the latest event to give celebrity content creators a chance to prove their mettle against fellow creators. The event took place on April 10 with a group stage, single-elimination bracket and $100,000 prize pool. PogChamps 6 7 was an express version of previous iterations and, as per usual, was packed to the brim with exciting commentary, brilliance, and blunders.
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