Traps & tricks

In the Exchange Caro-Kann, White pins with 5.Bb5 and then reaches for 6.Ne5 to make something of it. The knight is just hanging: after 6...Nxe5, both 7.Bxd7+ Nxd7 and 7.dxe5 Bxb5 leave you a clean piece up.

Meet the Fantasy Variation 3.f3 by striking with 3...e5. After 4.dxe5 the queen goes to b6, not d6, which hangs to exd6, and lines up with ...Bc5 against f2 and g1. If White grabs with 5.exd5, then 5...Bc5 6.Ne2? is mated by 6...Bf2+ 7.Kd2 Qe3#, and 6.Qe2 Bxg1 is already uncomfortable.

Against the Fantasy Variation (3.f3), 3...dxe4 4.fxe4 e5! hits the center. 5.dxe5??, 5.c3? and 5.d5? all allow 5...Qh4+: after 6.g3 Qxe4+ the h1-rook falls, and 6.Ke2 Qxe4+ 7.Kf2?? walks into mate. Only 6.Kd2, or 7.Be3 after 6.Ke2, keeps White in the game.

In the Panov, 6...Bb4 pins the Nc3; White's natural 7.b3?? leaves the knight undefended, and 7...Bxc3+ 8.Bd2 Bxa1 wins knight and rook for the bishop.

After 4...Nf6 5.Qd3, Black's premature 5...e5?? runs into 8.O-O-O and the crushing 9.Qd8+!! queen sacrifice mating by force, and the more common 5...Bf5? drops a piece to 6.Nxf6+ and 7.Qxf5; declining with 5...Nxe4 keeps Black safe but hands White an easy game.

In the 4...Nd7 line, 5.Qe2 threatens 6.Nd6#; Black's natural 5...Ngf6?? allows it, while the correct 5...Ndf6 leaves White comfortably better.

Against the Fantasy (3.f3), 3...Qb6 hits b2 and d4 together. After 4.Nd2 e5, the natural grab 5.dxe5?? runs into 5...Bc5, d4 has vanished, f2 is pinned, and the g1 knight is stuck. Note it needs 4.Nd2: against 4.Nc3 the same plan does not work.

4...Bh4+ looks like a free hit, it drives your king to f1. But the bishop now stands on h4 attacked by the knight on f3, and 5...Nf6?? loses it to 6.Nxh4. The most-played mistake anyone makes against this opening.

The Modern Defence 3...d5 gives the pawn back to free the position. After 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 the queen is attacked and 5...Qc6?? picks the one square that loses her, 6.Bb5 pins the queen to the king.

Against 3...g5 you play 4.h4 and the g5 pawn is already loose. 4...h6 defends it, but 5.hxg5 hxg5?? forgets that the h-file opens with a rook staring down it. 6.Rxh8 wins a rook, and often a second one on f8.

White's Allgaier knight sac 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 overreaches: against the popular 7.Qxg4 and 7.Bc4+ Black keeps the extra piece and soon wins. The sound 5.Ne5 only gives Black a comfortable, level game.

In the Salvio Gambit 5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kf1 Nh6, most club players continue 7.d4, and 7...f3! blows the kingside open: 8.Bxh6 and 8.gxf3 both lose. The greedy 7.Nxf7 runs into ...Nxf7 and drops a piece.

Black's Dragon-style 6...g6 in the Fischer-Sozin lets White play 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5, when the natural 8...dxe5 loses the queen to 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Qxd8.

In the c3-Sicilian, snatching the loose e4-pawn with 4...Nxe4?? runs into 5.Qa4+, a double attack that forks Black's king and stranded knight and wins it with 6.Qxe4. After 4...Nc6 5.d4, the same grab is met by 6.d5.

In the Smith-Morra Accepted, 9...Nd4 hits the queen, and White's natural 10.Nxd4?? allows 10...Qh2 mate, the queen slipping in behind the pawn wall.

3...Nd4 offers the e5 pawn. 4.Nxe5 is playable for White, but after 4...Qg5 the greedy 5.Nxf7?? loses on the spot to 5...Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Nf3#, and 5.Ng4? and 5.Nf3? drop a piece too. Against the correct 4.Nxd4, Black is somewhat worse.

The oldest trap worth knowing: Nxe5! offers the queen, and ...Bxd1?? is mated by Bxf7+ Ke7 Nd5#. It comes up most after 4...Nc6 5.h3 Bh5? and 4...h6. When Black sidesteps the mate White has usually still won a pawn; against 4...Nf6 or 4...c6 the trick does not work and White plays quietly.

When White grabs the e5 pawn with 9.Nxe5, 9...Nxe4! unveils the g7-bishop and hits the c3-knight. The tempting fork 10.Nxf7? meets 10...Bxc3+ and ...Kxf7, and a knight retreat drops the a1-rook to ...Nxc3 and ...Bxc3+.

In the Samisch, 8.Qd2 Qh4+ 9.g3 invites 9...Nxg3!, forking the h1-rook and the f1-bishop. About half of club players answer 10.Bf2, which runs into ...Nxf1 and a string of trades that leaves Black a clean pawn up; the other half find 10.Qf2!, after which Black is about a pawn worse.

In the QGD, White's greedy 6.Nxd5?? runs into 6...Nxd5! 7.Bxd8 Bb4+, the check comes with tempo and Black emerges a clean piece up.

The famous underpromotion. After 4.e3?? Bb4+ 5.Bd2 dxe3, White's natural 6.Bxb4 allows 6...exf2+ 7.Ke2 fxg1=N+!, a knight, not a queen, winning material.

After 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4, White's natural 8.Qxd4?? walks into 8...c5 and 9...c4, the b3 bishop is boxed in by a wall of pawns and cannot escape.

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 worse, and those lines are included rather than hidden.

In the Budapest, 7.a3?? invites 7...Ngxe5, and when White grabs the bishop with 8.axb4, 8...Nd3 is smothered mate on the board.

After 5...Bg4 6.h3, the pin-keeping 6...Qh5? drops the bishop to 7.hxg4, and after 6...Bh5 7.g4 the natural-looking 7...Nxg4?? sacrifice is unsound: 8.hxg4 Bxg4 leaves Black a piece down for two pawns. 7...Bg6 is the move, and even then 8.Ne5 followed by 9.Nc4 can hunt the queen down.