I took a shot at the ChessPathways Blitz Streak Challenge! Did I take the lead?

For those who don't know, chesspathways.com is hosting a "Blitz Streak challenge" with a cash prize for whoever can achieve the longest online blitz winning streak before May 17! It's totally free to join - the only requirement is to be signed up on the site before achieving your streak (which is also free and takes 5 seconds!)

I've never been great at blitz - some who have played me in the Master Simul can attest that I'm blunder-prone when I have limited thinking time, and my blitz rating is always hovering 100-200 points below my real-life rating - but I decided to have some fun and give it a shot!

I'll keep the analysis sparser than usual (there's limited value to analyzing 3-minute blitz games with crazy time scrambles in-depth), but I'll point out anything I find notable. Sit back and enjoy the games... starting with a wild one in the French Defense, involving a (probably unsound) march of the white king to h4!

Next up was a Scandanavian defense game.  I got a pleasant position with more space out of the opening, but black managed to probably equalize. Eventually I was able to pick up the a-pawn, and then black blundered a piece in time pressure:

Next up was a Semi-slav game. After playing ...Ne8 (...Ng4! was better. I'm not sure what scared me about this - the knight's not getting trapped or anything. Gotta work on those speed chess instincts!) I found myself under heavy fire from a mating attack, but managed to slip away from white's grasp and trade queens!

3 wins down! Next up was a Sicilian Najdorf that I got to play my favorite English attack against, with the kingside pawn storm and castling long.  Most people think of huge mating attacks when they think of this line, but positional play can dominate too. Notice how after a white pawn occupies the d5 square, black always has to be careful that the Nb3-a5-c6 maneuver doesn't work as it did in the game, shutting down all black play on the kingside - this is a common motif in these lines!

After being positionally frustrated, black blundered a rook:

Game 5 began with a fairly inoccuous line in the London system, which only turned tactical when white accepted a pawn sacrifice! White never got their rooks coordinated and I won material after the tactical blows were through.

Another English attack featured in game 6, and once again the game was a lot deeper than just racing mating attacks (I love this line for its strategic complexity!) Black managed to win a pawn early on, but their king remained a bit exposed - even with queens off the board! Eventually black blundered under pressure and I won my material back with interest:

White played the English/Reti opening with an early kingside fianchetto in game 7, and I decided to grab the pawn and hold on for dear life! I've seen this early queen maneuver to ...c5 before, and white is basically forced to exchange off black's extra pawn on c4 and stay down a pawn, as happened in the game. Nonetheless, white gets compensation, and in the game things didn't turn out so well for me! In a lost position, I managed to win on time:

7 games! I was making a real run at this thing.  4 more wins and I'd be tied for the top spot!

Unfortunately, my next opponent (a fellow NM) put an end to my streak. The opening was actually the same line that I played against him years back in an OTB tournament! The bishop-retreat line in the 2 Knights Caro has often been considered speculative, but I have some fun with it and play it on occasion - I don't think it's as bad as it looks! Nonetheless, white's pressure on my king turned out to be too much for me to handle in this game:

Congratulations to @InferiorBeast for ending my streak!