Opening Traps/know them from both sides/C50/You play White

Blackburne Shilling Gambit

Leave e5 hanging against the Italian. Take it, take f7, take the rook, and walk into a smothered mate.

Coachedanswers the move you actually played

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Stockfish+0.36

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Variations3 of 4

The Shilling, and White's best tryFoundation8 moves Blackburne Shilling GambitFoundation7 moves Sidestepping it: 4.Nxd4as WhiteFoundationThe Italian player's chair. Trade off the knight that sets the trap, castle, and the pawn Black gave away on e5 is collected on d4 a few moves later.8 moves Deep dive: a queen upStructure10 moves

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.

StartBefore the first move

The starting position. White moves first, and that single tempo is the whole reason opening theory exists.

The moves in the text are buttons. Press one and the board beside it shows the position.

The idea in one paragraph

against the Italian abandons e5 and invites the greedy . Then forks the knight and the g2-pawn, and if White keeps grabbing ( ), the natural is met by , a smothered mate. White's only other move, , gives up the queen. Objectively is a poor move: and the engine gives White about a pawn. That is the whole point of learning it from both chairs.

The pawn structure

No structure: the trap is decided by the white king on e1 and the pieces around it. After every square next to the king is taken by its own queen, bishop, rook and pawns, so a knight check on f3 that nothing can capture is mate.

The plans

♔ White’s plans

Answer with , trading off the knight that started it, and castle. and are also good.
If you have already taken on e5 and comes, stop taking: gives the knight back and keeps the damage to about half a pawn.
If you are already in the line after , block with the queen, not the bishop: loses the queen, loses the game.

♚ Black’s plans

Play only as a trap: against you are simply worse.
After , play : the queen forks the e5-knight and g2.
After , ignore the fork of queen and rook: , and is mate.

Traps and things that lose games

The smothered mate

. The cure:

Trap 2

White's best after is , a whole queen down.

Its cousins from the same Italian position

Legal's Mate, and the Fried Liver.

Every Italian player, because 3...Nd4 is played at club level far more often than it deserves. And Black players who want one trick in blitz, knowing that against 4.Nxd4 it is a pawn's worth of trouble.

Your learning path: Blackburne Shilling Gambit

Beginner

One trap from both chairs: the smothered mate for Black, and the one trade that makes it impossible for White.

FoundationOne sitting
Goal. Know the mate, White's best try, and the cure.
- The fork: 4...Qg5 hits e5 and g2 together.
- The mate: 5...Qxg2, 6...Qxe4+ and 7...Nf3#, and why the e2-bishop cannot take the knight.
- White's best after 6...Qxe4+: 7.Qe2, a queen down instead of mated.
- From White's chair: 4.Nxd4!, or 5.O-O if you have already taken on e5.
DrillDrill all three chapters, then set up the position after 4...Qg5 and play White's damage control, 5.O-O, against an engine.
Common mistakePlaying 3...Nd4 as a real opening. Against 4.Nxd4 Black is worse by about a pawn, and most opponents who have seen it once will play it.
Move on whenYou can play the mate from memory, and as White you trade on d4 without thinking.

Whose games to study

Wikipedia's Blackburne Shilling Gambit article gives the trap's history and its name. Every evaluation here comes from Stockfish at depth twenty.

What to learn after this

The Italian Game course, and Legal's Mate and the Fried Liver, the other traps from the same position.