1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5?! 6.Nxf7! Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3
Everything is decided on Black's fifth move. Recapturing with the knight looks natural and almost loses; 5...Na5 gives back the pawn but keeps the position together.
In the starting position f7 is defended by the king alone, and White hits it with two pieces at once: the bishop from c4 and the knight from g5.
The correct answer is the central counter-strike 4...d5. Black does not defend f7 at all; instead he hits the c4 bishop and pulls it off the main diagonal.
White plays 5.exd5 and Black wins the pawn back with the knight. It looks like the most logical move: the knight lands in the centre and material is level. But it has left f6 and stopped shielding the king.
White gives up the knight. The capture is forced - otherwise Black loses queen and rook - and the king steps out to f7. After 7.Qf3+ it has to go to e6: there is nothing to block with, and retreating to g8 or e8 drops the knight on d5.
Counting material here is useless. On paper Black has a piece for two pawns, so he is about two points ahead. But the king on e6 will never reach shelter: castling is gone, the rooks are not connected, and every white move comes with tempo.
In practice the defence is extremely hard: over the board Black usually collapses within ten moves. A computer playing perfectly assesses the position as acceptable for Black - and this is exactly the case where the engine evaluation and the result at the board part ways.
The main defence is not to take the pawn but to attack the bishop: 5...Na5!
The idea is simple: instead of arguing over the pawn, Black removes the main attacker - the bishop on c4 - from the diagonal. He does lose the pawn, but gets two tempi of development and open lines for his bishops in return. Every opening reference considers that compensation enough.
There is also a sharp route - 4...Bc5!?, the Traxler Counterattack. Black ignores the threat to f7 altogether and invites White to take the piece while launching a counterattack against the white king. The line is razor-sharp, and both sides need to know it by heart.
The position arises from the Two Knights Defence, and the ideas behind it belong to the same family as the other opening traps. If the tactics feel unfamiliar, start with tactics for beginners.
A knight sacrifice on f7 in the Two Knights Defence: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3. White gives up a piece to drag the black king into the middle of the board.
From the Italian Fegatello, roughly «the little liver». The name comes from Italian sources of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and carries the same sense as the English version: the black king is in trouble.
Because the king stands on e6 in the middle of the board and has lost castling for good. White moves with tempo, Black's rooks are disconnected, and defending over the board is extremely hard, even though Black has more material on paper.
Play 5...Na5 instead of 5...Nxd5: Black attacks the bishop on c4, gives back the pawn, and keeps the knight on f6, the king and the right to castle. The sharp alternative is 4...Bc5, the Traxler Counterattack.
Against an opponent who does not know the defence, yes - it wins a lot of quick games. Against a prepared one you have to settle for the position after 5...Na5, where White has an extra pawn but no attack at all.
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More traps - opening traps and Legal's Mate. The tactics behind them - tactics for beginners.
At the board since childhood: hazy about his rating, precise about every rook he has blundered. Counts an evening as a good one if the opponent stayed to talk afterwards instead of rushing off to check with an engine. Message →
