Summer Tournament Week 5

Hi all!

   It has been a busy week in chess, making this blog a couple days later then normal. I played 5 games of 15+10 for a CFC rated event earlier this week, continued puzzles/study/review, and played the 5th round of the Online Summer Tournament. Unfortunately, it was discovered that my last opponent had been cheating (not necessarily against me) and their results were overturned. That changed my results to 4-0, making this week here my first loss!

   This felt like a very thematic week, as I kept noticing the same occurrence in games... forceful pawn pushes, which attack a vulnerable/immobile piece. Thought there must have been 10 great examples, but can only find a few now. The first example is a good tactic puzzle and comes right from my week 5 tournament game, the second isn't really a puzzle, but has a couple options and I choose the wrong (but way more exciting) pawn push, and the third example makes for an excellent tactic puzzle!

   I think my puzzles will show the answers right away!! Sorry, not good with tech sometimes. If on a computer, the answer will show to the right, so scroll slow and cover them! Haha. And if on a phone, they should show underneath the puzzle. Good luck!

Puzzle #1

Puzzle #2

***There are other, maybe better, options to consider than ...d5, but sticking with the pawn pushing theme. It is definitely a strong move to consider. 

Puzzle #3

This week was probably the toughest game I played this tournament so far. It made for a very enjoyable fight against a kind opponent, who shared a couple ideas after our game. Without further ado:

EDIT: I make a mistake in my notes. Claim that variation 25. Bxc8 would be bad. It is actually the best line! Thanks to my opponent for pointing that out. 

There are now 2 more rounds to be played for the Online Summer Tournament. Two players have a perfect score so far, and it should be an exciting game between them this week. Thanks for checking out my blog. Until next week...

Best Regards,

Jason Huot