Assess your Tactics level- PART I

This post is about the middle-game. Some folks said " Chess is 99% tactics".

I am not sure about the exact % but playing online chess in blitz or rapid, tactical abilities can make a big difference.

This is a puzzle battle I played against a grandmaster, a GM. 

I scored 38 puzzles in 3 minutes, I am a Candidate Master. The GM scored 47. Fair and Square.

but tactics is not only about speed, if you play a rapid game, you may spend 3 to 5 minutes on the key position to calculate all variations.

 one note, GM Hikaru Nakamura often warms up with puzzle rush 3 minutes, before playing an online tournament ( Titled Tuesday, Bullet Brawl, Freestyle Friday).

of course, he is very good at openings as well. but how many puzzles does he solve in Puzzle Rush 3 minutes format ( not puzzle battle, meaning he is trying to reach highest score on his own, not playing against an opponent in a battle format).

56 puzzles in 3 minutes !! Very Sharp.

so in this blog, I came up with a TACTICS TEST in 10 positions. Today I will unveil first 5 and in a later post I will follow up with 5 more positions.

I am putting the positions with an image, so that you are not tempted to consult an engine or the solutions. I recommend 10 minutes for 5 positions. slightly slower than Puzzle Rush. It is important to solve the position until the end, so try to find best defense and follow-up, the variation could be 5 or 6 moves deep for the most resilient defence. getting first move right gets half the point!

______________________________________

#Position 1: BLACK TO PLAY

POSITION 2: White to play

POSITION 3: Black to play !

POSITION 4: Black to play !

POSITION 5: White to play

SOLUTIONS BELOW

.

.

.