Page 3 700 Opening Traps

 Page 43

          

Page 42

700 Opening Traps

Bill Wall

French Defense 

(1.e4 e6 )

 

 

 

This is one of the oldest openings, but did not get its name until 1834 

when a Paris team, using this defense successfully, defeated London in a 

correspondence match.  There are many traps associated with this opening. 

 

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ne2 e5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.c4 Nb4 7.cxd5?? 

[7.Nb3] 7…Nd3 mate (Grossner - Budrich, East Germany 1949)

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.g3 dxe4 5.dxe4 Bc5 6.Ngf3? [6.Bg2 or 6.Bd3 

is better] 6…Ng4 7.Qe2 Bxf2+ 8.Kd1 Ne3+ and White must give up his 

Queen (Haubrich - Orlov, Chicago 1991)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd6 5.Bd3 Ne7 6.Bg5 O-O 7.Nf6+! 

gxf6 8.Bxf6 Qd7?? [to stop mate perhaps Black can play 8…Bb4 9.c3 Qd5 

and 10…Ng6] 9.Bxh7+ leads to mate after 9…Kxh7 10.Qh5+ Kg8 11.Qh8 

mate (Blom - Jensen, Copenhagen 1938)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.Nxf6+ Qxf6 

8.Bg5 Bxf3 9.Qd2 Qxd4?? [9…Bxg2 10.Bxf6 Bxh1 is the right continuation] 

10.Bb5+ wins the Queen (Kotkov - Akopian, USSR 1966)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Ne7 5.Bd3 g6?? [Black can play 5…

Nbc6 or Nec6] 6.Nf6 mate (V. Ivanov - Martinov. Moscow 1973)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Qxd4 6.Bd3 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 

Nf6?? 8.Bb5+, winning the Queen (Clech - Tyrant, Val Maubuee 1989)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd3 c5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 cxd4 7.a3 Qa5? 

[better is 7…Ba5] 8.axb4 Qxa1 9.Nxd4, threatening 10.Nb3 and trapping 

the Queen (Szily - Vloch, Budapest 1943)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Qg4 Ne7 6.Qxg7 Qe4+?? [Black 

must play 6…Rg8] 7.Kd1 now the Queen and Rook are being attacked and 

Black must lose one of them (Van Steenis - Wechsler, Hastings 1947)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Ne2 dxe4 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Nxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 

Nxd4 8.Qxg7?? Nxc2+ 9.Ke2 Qd3 mate (Dake - Pauli, Baltimore 1936)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 Nxe5? 

[perhaps 7…Qa5 8.Qxg7 Qxc3+] 8.Qxg7 Qf6 9.Bh6 will eventually win the 

Rook (Goldenov - Nekrassov, Minks 1953)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Qd7 5.Nf3 b6 6.Bb5?? Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Qxb5 

and Black wins a piece (Hieser - Shue, Australia 1996)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 (better is 4.e5) 4...dxe4 5.fxe4 Qh4+ 6.g3 

Qxe4+ wins the rook (Schnabel - Cook, Dayton 1980)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 c5 7.Bxe7 Kxe7 

8.dxc5 Qa5 9.Qd2 h6 10.Nxd5+, wins the Queen (Velimirovic - Ristovic, 

Pozarevac 1995)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bd2 Qxd4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.O-O-O 

Bxc3 8.Bg5 Bxb2+ 9.Kb1 Qb6?? [9…b5! And Black is winning] 10.Rd8 

mate (Diemer - Buerger, Germany 1948)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nc6 5.Nf3 b6 6.Bb5 Qd5 7.Qe2 Nf6 

8.c4 Bb4+ 9.Kf1 Qd7 10.Ne5 or 10.d5 Nxe5 11.Ne5 wins a piece (Rausis - 

Herboth, Baden Baden 1993)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 (the Exchange variation) 3...exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.c4 

Ne7?? 6.c5 trapping the Bishop. (C. Hansen - Rodas, West Germany 1980)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.c3 Bg4 7.Bg5?? Bxf3, 

winning a piece  (Muellen - Wagner, Germany 1990)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bd3 h6 4.Nf3 Na6 5.Nf3 Na6 6.e5 Nh5?? 7.g4, trapping 

the Knight (Wall- Arau, Internet 1996)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Be7 4.Bd3 O-O 5.Nc3 Nxe4?? [normal is 5…Nc6] 

6.Bxe7 Nxc3 7.Bxh7+ Kh8 8.Qh5, threatening 9.Bg6+ Kg8 10.Qh7 mate 

(Durao - Horta, Lisbon 1954)

1.e4 e6 2.Qf3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 c6 6.Be3 Bd6 7.Nh3?? [7.Bg5 

looks best]  7…Bg4 trapping the Queen (Unknown - Blaine, Indianapolis 

1980)

---