December Blitz and Memes

In chess, there’s no such thing as a bad move if it makes your opponent laugh.

Hello, my fellow 1.b3 cowboys,  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 dredged from the very depths of the InterWebs...

Good luck trying to solve all five puzzles on the first attempt, this month's collection is a little more straight forward than usual, meaning the odds are in your favor.

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

The Old Reliable

Our first tactic comes from Brightbleu's 6th round encounter with Zucci. The position originated from the French Defense: Chigorin Variation. Brightbleu, playing White, has his heavy pieces on open or semi-open files, always a recipe for tactics.

Can you see how he won a piece?

IM Overloaded

Our second tactic is brought to us by none other than IM rnanjo, a perennial contributor to this blog series. The position emerged from the Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen. IM rnanjo, playing Black is able to take advantage of White's overworked pieces to win material.

Can you spot White's weakness?

Gaining on the Exchange

Our next tactic comes from the drsljones second round match up with BrightBleu. The position arose from the Grunfeld Defense. drsljones, playing White is able to take advantage of Black's blunder to win material.

Can you see why Black's last move was a blunder?

A Tight Squeeze

In the 6th round, purupurukun was able to put the squeeze on drsljones. The position was derived from the Semi-Slav Defense. With his last move drsljones has gone from winning to lost, purupurukun, playing White, makes no mistake in his response.

Can you put the squeeze on Black?

Takes, Takes, Check...

Our final contribution comes from the fourth round, purupurukun, playing White is able to take advantage of Black's piece placement. The position resulted from the Queen Pawn Opening: Zukertort variation.

Hint: start things off by taking...

And that was it, that was December Blitz and Memes. Congrats to IM rnanjo for winning with a 6/7 score. And of course more importantly congrats to those of you who were able to solve all five puzzles on the first attempt, your pertinacity is to be commended.

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

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.