Page 3 700 Opening Traps

 Page 89

          

Page 88

700 Opening Traps

Bill Wall

Two Knights Defense 

(1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6) 

 

The Two Knights Defense is a very tricky defense with lots of traps for both 

White and Black. The most common trap is called the Fried Liver Attack. 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 [3…f6 4.Nh4 g5?? 5.Qh5+ Ke7 6.Nf5 mate, 

Hartlaub - Rosenbaum, Frieburg 1892] 4.Ng5 (threatening 5.Nxf7, forking 

Queen and Rook) 4...d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 (the better move is 5...Na5) 6.Nxf7 

Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 (the only move to save the knight from 8.Bxd5) 8.Nc3.  

Black only two choices are 8...Ne7 or 8...Nb4.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nb4 6.d6 Nbd5 7.dxc7 

Qxc7 8.Bxd5 Nxd5 9.Qf3 Be7?? [Black should play 9…Nb4] 10.Qxf7+ and 

11.Qxd5 (Fedotov - Woschkat, Internet 1996)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 Nxd5 

8.cxd4 Qxg5 9.Bxb5+ Kd8 10.Qf3 Bb7 11.O-O exd4  12.Qxf7 Nf6 wins 

(Fischer - Burger, San Francisco 1964)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ 

Qf6 (7...Ke6) 8.Bxd5+ Be6 9.Bxc6 Qxf3 10.Bxf3, winning a piece  (Gilmore 

- Bringer, Dayton 1982)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4 f6  7.dxe5 Nxe5 

8.Bxd5 fxg5 9.O-O Bd7 10.Re1 Qf6 11.Qh5+ Qg6  12.Rxe5+, wins a piece 

(Fischer - Kuhn, Chicago 1964)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Nd5? 5.Nxf7 Kxf7 6.Bxd5+ Ke8 7.O-O 

[or 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Qh5+ and 9.Qxe5] 7…Bc5 8.Nc3 [again, 8.Bxc6 is good] 

8…Nd4 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qxe5+ and 11.Qxh8+ (Hryniw - Taggert, Postal 1995)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Nxe4 5.Nxf7 Qf6 6.Nxh8?? [White 

should just castle] Qxf2 mate (O’Brien - LauerSmith, 1995)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f6? (Black should stick with 3...Nf6 or 3...Bc5, the 

Giuoco Piano) 4.Nh4 g5?? 5.Qh5+ Ke7 6.Nf5 mate  (Hartlaub - Rosenbaum, 

Frieberg 1892)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nh6 4.d4 Bd6 5.Bg5 f6 6.Bxh6 gxh6  7.Nxe5 fxe5 

8.Qh5+ Kf8 9.Qf7 mate (Wall - Kerazag, Internet 1996)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.O-O Bg4 7.Re1 f6 

8.Nxe5! if 8...Bxd1 9.Nxc6+ and 10.Nxd8 (Armas - Hartung, Dortmund 

1988)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 Nxe4 5.dxe5 Bc5?? 6.Qd5, threatening 

7.Qxf7 mate  (Snyder - Ellis, Los Angeles 1972)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Nxe4 5.Nxf7 Qf6 6.Nxh8?? Qxf2 mate 

(O’Brien - LauerSmith, Europe 1995)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Nxe4 (Dubious.  Best is 4...d5.  Also 

playable is 4...Bc5) 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Nxe4 (better may be 6.d4) 6...Kxf7 7.Qf3 

Kg8?? (7...Ke8) 8.Ng5 (threatening mate with 9.Qf7 or 9.Qd5) 8...Qe8 

9.Qd5+ Qf7 10.Qxf7 mate (Wall - Bubar, Tacoma 1968)

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

Nf3 mate  (Muhlock - Kostics, Cologne 1912)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 (the Trexler variation) 5.Nxf7 (or 

5.Bxf7+) 5...Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Kg1 Qh4 8.Nxh8?? Qf2 mate  (Yam - 

Wall, Internet 1996)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Ke1 

Qh4+ 8.g3 Nxg3 9.Rf1 Nh1+ 10.Ke2 Qe4 mate (Werner - Kutzner, Germany 

1993)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Ke3 

Qh4 8.Qf3 Nf6 9.Ke2? [9.Nxh8 Qxc4 or 9…Ng4+] Qxc4+ 10.Kd1 Nd4 and 

Black will win the Knight on f7 (Jentzch - Nosotta, Postal 1956)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7 7.Nxh8 

d5 8.Bxd5 Bg4 wins  (Crowley - Wall, Internet 1996)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Bc4 Rf8 7.Be2 

[better may be 7.Qe2] 7…Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 9.Ke1 [9.Kg1 Nxg5] 9…

Nf2 10.Nxh7 Nxd1 11.Nxf8 Qxf8 and Black is winning (Matula - Leisebein, 

Postal 1988)

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