February Blitz 'n' Memes
Welcome everybody, to a super difficult edition of Blitz 'n' Memes.
If you're a fan of puzzles taken from amateur online blitz tournaments, then you have come to the right place, because that is what I do.
As always, the tactics have been selected from the Japan Chess Federation's monthly blitz tournament: TGIF Blitz. The tourney takes place on the 3rd Friday of every month, 21:00 JST, right here on chess.com. It consists of seven rounds of blitz, with a time control of 3+2; and is open to all JCF club members.
The memes on the other hand were taken from the hidden corners of the InterWebs.
I feel it my duty to inform you that this month's tactics are some of the most difficult I have ever posted, so I'll be adding a small hint for some of them, if you don't feel you need any help, just ignore the hint and scroll down to the tactic. In either case, it will not be easy getting all 5 puzzles correct on the first attempt.
So, without further ado, lets get to the blitz 'n' memes.
Kicking in the Front Door
Our first tactic comes from the first round, Zucci, playing White, has most of his army aimed at the Black kingside, a recipe for mate.
Can you see how White kicked through Black's defenses.
Hint: The f7 and g6 pawns are very weak.
Pawn Shop
Our next offering is from the 7th round, IM rnanjo, playing White, goes from winning a pawn to winning the game.
A weak pawn causes Black's position to fall apart.
You start things off by targeting Black's weakest square.
Hint: resist the urge to make the reflexive capture.
An Active Lifestyle
Here in our penultimate showing, we have a tactic from the penultimate round, IM rnanjo, playing White, is able to help his pieces, until his pieces help him.
Can you activate your pieces while making credible threats?
El Desperado
The final tactic is taken from the fourth round, ShizunaMD, playing White, makes a desperado move...which throws the position into chaos.
This tactic is particularly difficult because White's position is objectively losing, but that means you have nothing to lose, so what would you play?
And that was it, that was February Blitz 'n' Memes.
Congratulations to IM rnanjo on a perfect 7/7 score...and more importantly congratulations to you few Puzzle IMs who completed this extra hard edition with a perfect 5/5 score, I salute you!
As always, thanks for reading and feel free to share these puzzles with your friends down at Library or Bar.
Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.
P.S. I have a bunch of chess merchandise available at my online shop, if that is of interest to you invite the "Click Button" to a friendly game of chess, but when he arrives demand he play "freestyle chess".
