Trap · played as Black
Ruy Lopez: Fishing Pole Trap
4...Ng4 5.h3 h5!? dangles the knight as bait. 6.hxg4?? opens the h-file onto White's king and Black mates. It is a genuine gamble though: if White declines, Black is about a pawn and a half worse, those lines are included rather than hidden.
A position this opening is aiming for.
- You play
- Black
- Variations covered
- 10
- What it wins
- Wins the queen
The main line
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.c3 a6 8.Ba4 gxf3
How the trap springs
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.Nc3 gxf3 8.g3 Nd4 9.d3 c6
Traps are only worth knowing if somebody actually falls into them, so each one here was checked against what club players really play, not only against what an engine would.
Some of the variations
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.c3 a6
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.c3 a6
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.Nc3 gxf3
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.hxg4 hxg4 7.Nc3 gxf3
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.Ba4 Be7 7.Nc3 Nf6
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Ng4 5.h3 h5 6.Ba4 Be7 7.Qe2 Nf6
…and 4 more in the trainer.
Train it
ChessReflex drills the branch points where a line splits rather than making you replay it move by move, so a repertoire this size is a handful of decisions instead of hundreds of moves. Free, and no account needed to start.
Open Ruy Lopez: Fishing Pole Trap →