Meet Momchilgradcity: City City City
Some players pick a username. Momchilgradcity picked real estate, twice. "Momchilgrad" is a town in Bulgaria whose name already ends in "-grad", the Slavic word for city, so the full handle cheerfully translates to "City City City". Triple the city, triple the confidence. Behind the geography sits a dedicated online blitz chess grinder with more than 7,500 rated games across every time control and a peak blitz rating of 2703 (2026-09-12).
The Thousand Point Blitz Climb
The blitz story began in September 2022 in the 1600s, then turned into one of the slowest, most stubborn climbs in recent online chess memory: the 2300s were settled in 2023, 2500 was cracked in early 2024, 2600 arrived during 2025, and by September 2026 the peak had pushed past 2700. That is roughly a thousand rating points in four years, achieved with a near even record of 3,096 wins against 3,597 losses.
The even score is the whole trick. Hovering around 50 percent against ever stronger opposition is exactly how a rating graph ends up pointing in one direction only.
Repertoire: Najdorf Devotion and an E-Pawn Coup
As Black, the calling card is the Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, played in nearly 300 blitz games with the loyalty of a family heirloom. Against 1.d4 come the Czech Defense and the QGD: Ragozin, a trio of choices that politely announces "I am not losing quickly today".
As White, there is a genuine plot twist. In 2022, 438 games opened 1.d4 against just 45 with 1.e4. Then the e-pawn staged a full coup, and since 2023 1.e4 has ruled the first move. The Caro-Kann Defense is the most frequent visitor, and the Exchange Variation against it produces one of the best White scores on the account. Bullet chess adds the seasoning: a perfect record against the Pterodactyl Variation and an 85 percent score against the Amar Gambit, because obscure openings deserve to be tamed too.
Honorable mention: 84 blitz games as White against the Blackburne Shilling Gambit. Either the trap works just often enough, or the universe keeps sending trap enthusiasts.
The signature Najdorf formation, for anyone wondering what devotion looks like:
Style: The Endgame Grinder Who Never Quits
Endgames appear in about 75 percent of these games, the average win stretches past 76 moves, and the early resignation rate is a minuscule 1.13 percent, which is a polite way of saying that surrender is not in the vocabulary. Losing a piece is treated as a minor scheduling inconvenience: the comeback rate sits near 89 percent, and wins still arrive 42 percent of the time after material has gone missing.
The clock is a co-conspirator. More than 700 blitz wins have come by timeout, the longest winning streak reached 10 games, and the longest losing streak reached 14, because every grinder needs a humility arc.
Rivals and Familiar Faces
Online chess runs on rivalries, and there are some beauties here. Not_2dayy has faced Momchilgradcity 46 times with the score at 22 to 24, an evenly matched feud for the ages. Vahan Nalbandyan holds the certified nemesis title: 31 games, 9 wins, 17 losses, and 5 draws, plus presumably many silent sessions with the analysis board. Shlawutski is one of the few most-played opponents with a winning head-to-head, while Ignacio Raviolo has held the edge in 24 meetings. When the same names appear month after month, they stop being opponents and start being coworkers.
Fun Facts and Final Verdict
- Best hour to play: 04:00. The overnight blocks produce the finest win rates on the account, while prime evening hours rank among the worst. Night-owl chess is elite chess.
- Favorite checking piece: the queen, with more than 7,000 checks delivered across the archive.
- Checkmate symmetry: 698 delivered, 708 received, one of the most balanced scoresheets imaginable.
- The first capture usually lands around move 6 or 7, so quiet, patient openings are strongly advised.
- Tilt factor: 14 out of 100, remarkably serene for someone who has played over 600 blitz games in a single month.
- Performs noticeably better in casual games than rated ones, suggesting the rating thermometer adds a slight chill.
Final verdict: a night-shift Najdorf loyalist who grinds endgames at 4am, treats a lost piece as a suggestion rather than a verdict, and converts even scores into a thousand-point climb. Approach with a solid opening and a fresh pot of coffee.