Grand Final Tactics & Memes
Hello, my fellow puzzle solvers; and welcome to another edition of the Osaka Papers. If you're a lover of tactics taken from amateur online rapid tournaments, then you have come to the right place, because that is what I do.
Sunday January 16th saw the culmination of the Japan Online Championship, better known as the NCS Sunday Cup 2022 Grand Final. Ten players from across Japan came together to compete for the honor of being regarded as the best online player in the nation. The competitors advanced to the final by achieving a top-four finish in one of the qualifying tournaments, held late last year.
The competition took place right here on chess.com. It was nationally rated, consisting of five rounds, with a time control of 15+10.
As always I have done my best to pick out the best tactics from the contest. I'm happy to say that these contenders did not disappoint, with Brilliant move after Brilliant move. So, finding all five winning tactics on the first try without hints will be no easy task.
As for the memes...well they were drafted from the dark recesses of the InterWebs.
So, without further ado, lets get to the Tactics and Memes.
Just a Little Push
In this second round encounter Taro Shinoda, with the White pieces, is taking on Mayur Gondhalekar. White has a slight advantage but Black's last move is a serious blunder...
Can you see how White takes advantage of Black's piece placement?
A Fork in the Road
Here Ryo Shiomi, with the White pieces, faces Rion Okuno. In this 4th round matchup, White managed to play three brilliant moves. I've decided to include only his last one. Dear Reader, you will be faced with a difficult choice in this somewhat straight forward looking position, a veritable..."Fork in the Road"...if you will.
Can you find the absolute most accurate way to proceed?
Up For Grabs
Our next game comes from the first round. CM Thanh Tu Tran aka the Offbeat King, with the Black pieces, is up against AIM Teruomi Higashishiba. White's pieces are a bit cluttered and the a-file is open.
Can you see how Black takes advantage of these factors to win material?
The Hunted
This fifth round meeting sees FM Mirai Aoshima aka the Shogi Master, with the Black pieces, challenge Ryo Shiomi. White captures the free pawn on e4...*Spoiler*... it's a poison pawn; and Black is able to take advantage of this fact to launch a king hunt.
Can you find the only move that works for Black?
Clash of the Titans
In the final round CM Thanh Tu Tran, with the Black pieces battles last year's champion IM Ryosuke Nanjo. With the championship at hazard Black was able to play a series of Great moves to win the Title of best online player in Japan.
Hint: you need to play really, really, really accurately...good luck.
And that was it, that was the NCS Sunday Cup 2022 Grand Final.
Congratulations to CM Thanh Tu Tran for winning with a score of 4.5 out of a possible 5 points.
And arguably more importantly, congrats to anyone who was able to solve all five puzzles on the first try, perhaps you are the real champion here...
Let me know what your favorite puzzle was down in the comments.
As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to share these tactics with your friends down at the Bar or Chess Club.
Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.
