October Blitz 'n' Memes

Chess is ruthless: you have got to be prepared to kill people.

-Nigel Short.

Welcome, everyone to another uncanny 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 searched out from the iniquitous depths of the interwebs...

This month's offerings of tactics are somewhat more straightforward than usual, so I think the odds are in your favor to get all five puzzles correct on the first attempt.

So, without further ado, lets get to the blitz and memes...

Trick or Treat!?

Our first tactic is from the third round and features IM rnanjo, playing White...and a little warning get used to seeing rnanjo's name this blog as this month's edition was pretty much a one man show...

Anyways, IM rnanjo's opponent plays a trick move, that ends up being a treat.

The pawn on g7 looks good for the taking, but is there a trick??

Haunted File

Another tactic from IM rnanjo, again playing White, this time from the first round. The h-file is definitely haunted, but what is needed to end things quickly?

Can you see what all good haunted files need?

Ignoring a Death Threat

In the fifth round, IM rnanjo, again playing White, makes a credible threat against Black...a threat that is completely ignored...

Can you see why ignoring this threat was a bad idea?

Stress Management

Once more from IM rnanjo, this time playing Black, in the sixth round. This is a straightforward but stressful position, there is a lot going on, and any inaccuracy will ruin all...

You'll need to attack and elude attacks accurately to get this puzzle correct.

The Road to Perdition

Our final tactic is from the fifth round, and features Sakura_Toujours, playing Black. A slightly long tactic, but mistakes and inaccuracies by White make mate unavoidable.

Good Luck!

And that was it, that was October Blitz 'n' Memes.

Congratulations to IM rnanjo for winning with a 6/7 score. And congrats to you few incredible souls who solved all five puzzles on the first attempt.

As always...oh wait..one more thing...

Bonus

I'm sure some of you were wondering about the position from the thumbnail...

Here you are, enjoy!!

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to share these puzzles with your friends down at the library or haunted house.

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.

P.S.

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Here is my best selling item...The Magician himself.