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Famous opening traps

Fool's mate, Scholar's mate, Legal's mate and more: never fall for them!

Beginner · Opening basics · 7 steps. On Chess Castles, Chess Guru reads each step aloud in English, Hindi or Marathi while the moves play on the board, and you can practise any position against the engine.

Step 1

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#

Fool's mate, the fastest checkmate in chess: White weakens the king with f3 and g4, and the black queen mates on h4 in just two moves. Never open the diagonal in front of your king like this!

Step 2

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#

Scholar's mate: the queen and bishop both aim at f7, which only the king defends. If Black does not see it, Qxf7 is checkmate. Many beginners lose this way.

Step 3

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The position before the moves

Moves: 3...g6 4.Qf3 Nf6

The defence is easy: block the queen with ...g6, and when it comes back to f3, cover f7 with the knight on f6. Now Black is fine and will chase the queen with tempo.

Step 4

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 g6 5.Nxe5 Bxd1 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#

Legal's mate, from the 1700s: White lets the queen be taken because the knights and bishop give checkmate. Black was greedy: taking the queen was the mistake.

Step 5

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 5.Nxf7 Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Nf3#

The Blackburne Shilling trap: Black leaves the e5 pawn, White grabs it and attacks f7, but the black queen and knight strike back and mate the king. Grabbing pawns without looking can be deadly.

Step 6

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8

The Elephant trap in the Queen's Gambit: White takes a pawn that looks free on d5, but after ...Nxd5 the bishop takes the queen and Black wins a piece with a check from b4. Always ask: why did my opponent leave this pawn?

Step 7

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The position before the moves

Moves: 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 6.Bc3 Bb4 7.Qd2 Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1#

The Englund trap: White develops naturally, but grabs a pawn and walks into ...Qc1, checkmate. Even good-looking moves need a quick safety check.

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