[Event "American Cup Lower Bracket"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2026.03.03"] [Round "17.1"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Liang, Awonder"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2729"] [BlackElo "2714"] [Annotator "jjlang"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [StudyName "Tactics Tuesday 03/24/2026: American Cup"] [ChapterName "Aronian, Levon - Liang, Awonder"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/V8UFkYGI/jXNaSBGW"] [FEN "8/1R6/4N2k/3n2pp/8/5PP1/3r4/5K2 b - - 0 43"] [SetUp "1"] [Orientation "black"] { Today's exercises come from the Elimination Bracket of the 2026 American Cup, held earlier this month in St. Louis. Under severe time pressure, the top U.S. players found (and missed!) some instructive combinations. The latter happened at the end of Aronian – Liang, when Liang played } 43... Ne3+?? { losing the knight's contact with the key f6-square. After } 44. Ke1 Rg2 { White has a winning move: } 45. Nf8 { with the excellent mating net. } (45. Rb3 { lost control of the h7-square, and Black went on to draw. }) 45... g4 46. f4 { and Black's checks run out. } 1/2-1/2