Chess Opening Traps: 8 You Need to Know (and Avoid)

An opening trap is a move that looks like a mistake or a gift but hides a tactical blow: if your opponent takes the bait in the most natural way, they lose material or get mated within a few moves. The best known are Scholar's Mate, Légal's Mate, the Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit, Noah's Ark in the Ruy Lopez and the Elephant Trap in the Queen's Gambit. Knowing them helps you less to win quick games than to avoid losing them: almost all of them punish the same couple of oversights.

Below are eight, each with its full line from the first move, the idea that makes it work and what to play instead so you don't fall for it.

Why traps work

Hardly any trap is magic. They feed on three weaknesses that appear in the first moves of almost every game:

• The f7 and f2 pawns. Before castling they are defended only by the king, and they are the favourite target of the queen, the bishop and the knight.
• Material offered for free. A piece left "hanging" in the opening is often bait: capturing it pulls one of your pieces out of play or opens a line towards your king.
• Pieces on the same line. A queen and king on the same diagonal or file are the perfect invitation for a pin or a skewer.

If you already know the basic tactical motifs, you will see that every trap is one of them in disguise: a fork, a double attack, a pin or a mating pattern.

1. Scholar's Mate

It is the first trap everyone learns, usually by losing to it:

Queen and bishop both aim at f7, and Black's knight went out to attack the queen instead of defending. The defence is simple: cover f7 and gain time by hitting the queen.

Black blocked the queen's diagonal, the threat was repeated from f3, and the knight on f6 shut it down for good. With White's queen out so early, it is Black who develops with tempo.

The lesson is the one from the opening principles: bringing the queen out early may mate a beginner, but against any reasonable defence it costs you time.

2. Légal's Mate

It is named after Legall de Kermeur, the 18th-century French master remembered as Philidor's teacher. It is the classic case of a pin that isn't one:

The bishop on g4 pins the knight on f3 to the queen, but the pin is only relative: the knight jumps anyway and gives up the queen. If Black takes it, three minor pieces deliver mate. The right move was not to take:

White has won only a pawn, which is far less than a whole game. The lesson: a pin against the queen is not a pin against the king. Before relying on one, ask what happens if your opponent breaks it.

3. The Blackburne Shilling Gambit

It is the favourite trap of people facing the Italian Game in fast games. Black leaves the e5 pawn hanging with a move that looks like a blunder:

The losing move is 4.Nxe5: the queen on g5 hits the knight and the g2 pawn at the same time, and White keeps grabbing material without seeing the knight mate on f3. The sound reply is to trade off the knight that jumped into the centre and keep developing:

Black has moved the same knight twice for nothing and White has a comfortable opening.

4. The door to the Fried Liver Attack

It is not a trap in the strict sense, but in the Two Knights Defence Black's most natural move opens the door to a very dangerous attack:

White has given up a knight to drag Black's king into the centre, and Black has to defend very accurately. That is why in practice 5...Na5 is preferred:

The knight attacks the bishop and Black regains the time in exchange for the pawn. The full attack, with the Traxler counterattack, is in the Italian Game guide and in the course Italian Game in depth, which gives it two lessons.

5. The Noah's Ark Trap

It is one of the oldest traps in the Ruy Lopez and still claims victims at every level. White's bishop on b3 gets walled in by a chain of pawns:

White's mistake is 8.Qxd4: winning back the pawn puts the queen in the path of Black's pawns, which advance with tempo. After 11...c4 the bishop on b3 has nowhere to go and Black wins it. The underlying idea applies to the whole Ruy Lopez: a bishop on b3 facing enemy pawns on a6, b5 and c4 can get trapped, so it pays to give it an escape route with c3 or a4 before that happens.

6. The Elephant Trap

It is the classic trap of the Queen's Gambit Declined. The knight on f6 looks pinned, and it isn't:

White sees the knight on f6 pinned to the queen and wins a pawn on d5. But Black gives up the queen: after 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ White's queen has to block and is lost, and the balance is an extra piece for Black against a pawn. It is the same lesson as Légal's Mate seen from the other side: before exploiting a pin, check that your opponent has no check that undoes it.

7. The Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit

It is named after Emanuel Lasker, although the Italian player Serafino Dubois had pointed it out earlier. It is famous for a curiosity: it ends with an underpromotion to a knight.

Promoting to a queen on g1 would not be check and the rook would take it; the knight gives check and gains time. If White replies 8.Rxg1, then 8...Bg4+ wins the queen on d1 by a skewer. With White's king exposed, Black's attack is decisive.

The mistake is 6.Bxb4. The right move is to accept doubled pawns:

8. The Siberian Trap in the Smith-Morra Gambit

Against the Sicilian Defence, the Smith-Morra Gambit gives White plenty of activity for a pawn. The Siberian Trap is Black's way of punishing an absent-minded capture:

The knight on d4 attacks the queen on e2, and taking it looks forced. But the knight on f3 was the only defender of h2: Black's queen comes down the diagonal and mates with the support of the knight on g4. White had to move the queen without taking on d4.

How not to fall into a trap

All eight have one thing in common: someone played the "obvious" move without looking at the reply. Three questions before every move are enough to sidestep almost all of them:

• What does my opponent's last move threaten? A knight that jumps to d4 or g4 is rarely there by accident.
• Why are they letting me have this for free? In the opening, material that is given away is usually bait. If you can't see the trap, at least work out your opponent's checks after you capture.
• What about f7 and my king? Until you castle, every diagonal and file that opens towards your king is a possible trap.

And a warning from the other side: playing to set traps is not a plan. Almost every move that sets one up, such as 2.Qh5 or 3...Nd4, is worse than the normal move, and against someone who replies well it leaves you behind. Traps are a resource in fast games and an exercise for training your tactical eye; to really improve you need to understand the ideas of the openings you play, which also prevents most beginner mistakes.

Where to go next

If you want to see these ideas in real games, gambits and sacrifices on f2 and f7 have their own lessons in Strategy, sacrifices and openings, and Practical chess mastery devotes lessons to gambits and unexpected moves. For the Italian, where most traps turn up at club level, the Italian Game course covers the Fried Liver and the gambits in detail. The lessons are taught in Spanish with English subtitles. And if you would rather have someone go through your games and show you which traps you fell into, you can work on it with a coach in online lessons.