Air carrier Captain reported the need to abruptly stop taxiing to avoid a collision with another aircraft entering their taxiway.

Narrative

We landed in ORD and were instructed to park at the central deice pad with multiple other aircraft on the west side of the airport. The airport was very congested that night with multiple aircraft parked waiting for their gate to open up. After about 20 minutes our gate opened up and we were given instructions to taxi on Alpha with multiple hold short points. Finally; short of taxiway Quebec; on Alpha; ground instructed us to continue on Alpha to the gate. At this time there was no one in front of us and we started towards our gate. While taxing on Alpha I looked at the intersecting taxiway Uniform and did not see any taxing aircraft. On Alpha prior to Uniform merging; the taxi line has a wiggle that drew my attention to staying on the centerline. Our speed was about 10-15 knots with our taxi light on while maneuvering the aircraft. We were about to make the slight right turn to stay on Alpha when I looked one more time to make sure the taxiway was clear. Looking over my left shoulder through the back side of the foggy DV (Direct View) window; I was barely able to make out an aircraft taxiing down Uniform at a speed twice as us (25-30 knots). I had to abruptly stop the aircraft to avoid a collision with the Aircraft. I estimate that the closest the aircrafts wing was to our aircraft was about 15 feet. If I didn't stop it would have been well within 10 feet and potentially the wing would have struck the forward fuselage of our aircraft. The First Officer was surprised how close and how fast the aircraft was taxiing by us. I spoke with the forward flight attendant after we parked at the gate and she said a couple of first class passengers commented about it. There was not an ATC deviation with us or the other aircraft. I think the causes were 1: night operations; 2: ATC was very busy and saturated; 3: the wiggle in taxiway Alpha drew my attention away from ensuring the merging Uniform taxiway was clear until the last second; 4: the poor visibility of the DV window and the angle to detect traffic on Uniform is very difficult; 5: the high rate of speed of the Aircraft as well as approaching us from behind as they merged onto Alpha made this event a little too close for comfort. I would recommend a hotspot at that location for merging traffic. The way the merger of that taxiway is set up allows both aircraft to merge at speeds of 20+ knots; with the angle making it difficult to detect an aircraft coming from behind. At the end of the day it is my responsibility to ensure the safety of the aircraft and I take it very serious. This event caught me by surprise; since I was not able to see the approaching aircraft till the last second.