January Blitz and Memes

Checkers is for tramps.

– Paul Morphy

Hello, my fellow secret agents, and welcome to another edition of Blitz and 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 drawn 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 stolen...I mean borrowed from the far corners of the InterWebs...

Good luck trying to solve all five puzzles on the first attempt, this month we had 3 International Masters competing in the tourney, hence there are a few tricky ones.

So, without further ado, lets get to the Blitz and Memes.

Look! A Free Queen

Our first tactic comes to us from the first round. Yuutin playing White has opened up Black's kingside with a devastating attack, but what is the best way to continue?

Well, if I was playing, I would def take that free queen...

A Geometry Lesson

In the 6th round, IM nekochabo faced Shiki_chess. The position was slightly better for Shiki_chess playing Black, but a blunder by the International Master allowed Black to take the win.

Black uses the sacred geometry to win material.

Cornered

In this 5th round match up, IM Shinya_Kojima playing White was able to...Corner his opponent...if you will.

The open h-file is the deciding factor in this position.

A Little Back and Forth

In the 4th round, Zucci playing White was able to end things quickly by using a few forcing moves.

When queen, bishop and knight are all pointing at the kingside, good things tend to happen.

Elegant Equestrian

Our final tactic comes to us from the 6th round, eventual champion Shiki_chess, playing White is able to finish off this attack in style.

Play an elegant move...

And that was it, that was January Blitz and Memes.

Some sad news to share, as a godforsaken low down dirty degenerate chess cheat invaded our sacred game, and won 5 games before being caught. Great work by the fair play team for catching him though.

Congrats to Shiki_chess who won with a 6/7 score, but I would like to confer an even grander congratulations on you few warriors who solved all 5 puzzles on the first attempt, well done!

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to share these memes and puzzles with your friends down at the Bar or Agency.

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.