My Path to FM - Week 5 - Update

So my last post was pretty whiny because I was overtired and under-performing.  One of the FM's who often reads my blog (and has made some very instructive comments) suggested I take a little break.  Unfortunately I'm a raging chess addict and would rather bash my head against the proverbial wall than take a single day off chess.

Anyway I wanted to post a short update.  I'm still on nights, but I finally got a proper sleep in and tried my hand at mixed tactics again.  When I posted my week 4 blog I bragged that I had climbed into the top 20 on ChessTempo by achieving a "mixed" rating of 2000.  Last week I had dropped all the way back to the low 1900's and was feeling pretty upset with myself.  As I mentioned in my first and second blogs, I need to be performing at an IM level or better if I expect to win my FM title in the next year or so.  I feel as though I can't afford to play badly for even a single week.  All that said, after a full 7 hours of rest, I'm back on the horse and pushing the limits of my abilities.  I once again feel like I'm playing the best chess of my life.

The only thing I wanted to update in this blog was my Tactics performance.  As I mentioned, my goal was to bring my "Mixed" tactics rating on chesstempo.com from 2000 (top 20) to 2100 (top 3).  As of this moment, I've made it to 2052 which puts me at number 5 on the active tacticians list.  

Here's a really tough one for you to try.  Remember, in "mixed" mode, you simply have to find the best move.  I won't tell you if you're trying to win, equalize, or simply not lose immediately.