Tactics from 2026 New Jersey Open

What better way to recap my New Jersey Open than a highlight reel?

1

To start out the tournament, I play an Italian with the White pieces. This position is not tactical, but Black's inaccuracy leads to a tactic 4 moves later.
Both sides have castled in the Italian, with Black to move. Their last move was 6...a5. Usually Black plays d6 by this point to defend e5. Black could also go for the more modern approach with 6...d5, had they not done a5 already.

7...h6?! is a clear mistake, which allows White to play d4.

Note that if Black cannot break with d5, White has succeeded in the opening. White to play here: can you refute Black's d5 move?

13...Nb6 is the best defense for Black. I originally planned 14. Bxf8 Nxc4 15. Qe2, but this is a worse version after 15...Be6 protecting the knight. The bishop cannot retreat to Ba3 and is trapped on Bc5.
My game continued with 15. d5! Qxf8 16. dxc6, and I converted cleanly with no issues.

2

In Round 2, I play a Scotch Gambit with the Black pieces. I face a surprising deviation from the main line on 9. Nc3, and on move 10, White already blunders. Black to play and win, can you find the tactic here?

Round 2 was another perfect game for me and mostly straightforward win.

3

I decided to put one positional puzzle in this blog for balance. The game starts out as a Four Knights Open Sicilian, with 5. e5 Ndb5 marking the Lasker-Pelikan Variation. In this line, 6...a6 is subpar after 7. Nd6+ Bxd6 8. Qxd6 Qe7. As a puzzle, in the position below, would you trade queens as White? Also, what is the most important square positionally?

The answer to the first question lies in the second. d5 is the most important square, and after 9. Qxe7 Nxe7, if White can stop Black from playing d5, White has a favorable queenless game. A tempting alternative 9. Qc7?! does not maintain an advantage after 9...d5.

I successfully prevented Black from playing d5 in the middlegame. Can you see what is wrong with Black's plan of 19...Rhg8 20. g3 Rg6 21. Rxg6 Nxg6 ?

The answer is 21. Rf2!, declining the trade and leaving Black's knight stranded.
In my first 3 games, I had made exactly zero inaccuracies (subject to opinion).

Round 4 was a very positional game that ended in a draw (opponent played perfectly, I played almost perfectly with minor accuracies but was still outplayed). Onto Round 5.

5

Now get ready for the craziest position of the tourney. At rank #4 with a score of 3.5/4 and a crushing attack, I was feeling pretty good about my tournament. Black had just played 21...Nxc3, guess what I came up with in response?

If you spotted 22. Nxf7!!, good job! I'll break down some of the intensive lines I put in the embedded study.
- The knight cannot be taken as White mates in 3.
- The knight is threatening Nd6+ with a fork. For example, 22...Nxb1?? 23. Nd6+ Kd8 24. Nb7+.
- Obviously, Black has 22...Nxe2+ with check - Kf1 regains the knight with interest. The game continued Ng3+ fxg3?, and I will explain why that's a mistake.
- Better is 24. Kg2!! Ngf5 (or Qc3) 25. Qh7, with a sufficient attack. Here, you need to see White's threat of Nd6+ Kd8; the knight on e7 is pinned, and White has Qxg8+.

Now, I did see 23...Ng3+ 24. fxg3 Qc3 in my calculations (Black threatens Qf3+ perpetual check), but my plan was to escape Kg2-Kh3, using the doubled pawns as a shield. After 25. Nd6+ Kd8, I spent almost all my time. I realized that my bishop is no longer covering h8, and that this Kh3 shelter fails. That made my winning position less clear: 26. Bxe7+ Kc7 28. Qf4 Rh8, and perhaps Black escapes with a draw. The game continued with 28. Qh2! but 28...Raf8! Also unclear if they can still force a draw. Devastating turn of events.

15 moves later, we get this position on move 43. (On move 41, my clock went into sudden-death time control with 30 extra minutes.) My mindset was stuck on avoiding a draw. Instead this final blunder sealed the fate of the game. 43. Rh8?? Black to play.

6

The final Round 6 provided some interesting puzzle positions as well. Firstly, what is White's plan for 18...cxd4, which undermines the defense of the knight?

19...Kb8 20. Rc4 led to an interesting imbalance with 20...Bxe5 21. Rxc7 Bxc7 queen sacrifice. Visually, Black's pieces seem to be on very good squares. I wasn't too sure if I was winning or not; or if I wanted to trade rooks with Be3 next.

I opted not to trade rooks, instead going for c4! White to play and win with a tactic. There may be multiple routes to go down.

The idea is Qe5+ forking their king, bishop, and knight at the same time. The main response to 25. Bxh6 to consider is 25...Bd2. Now here we actually have a decision whether to go 26. Bxd2 Rxd2 Qe5+ (or 26. Qe5+ Ka8 27. Bxd2), or 26. Bxg7 Bxc1 27. Bxf6 (or 26. Qe5+ Ka8 27. Bxg7).
I calculated (inaccurately) that Bxg7 was not the way to go, because I visualized my queen on e5, a dark square.
On 26. Qe5+ Ka8 27. Bxg7 Bxc1 28. Bxf6?? Rd1 29. Bxd8 Bf4+ 30. Kc2 Rc1+. (There would not be such a discovery if we do not throw in Qe5+.)
The game was won shortly after 28. h6!, and I recovered from my Round 5 loss, with 4 wins and 1 draw out of 6 games.