The Rubinstein Trap - Trap The Queen

I last went over how to take the queen as black. You might now be wondering, how do you have an advantage as white? Not everybody falls for the Legal Trap. There has to be another way, maybe a way to take the queen.

There is: The Rubinstein Trap

This trap involves trapping the queen. It begins with a Queen’s Pawn Opening, and then both pieces moving their king-side knights. White then launches a Queen’s Gambit, and black declines:

Now white prepares the trade where knights and bishops are exchanged. It now looks like the Cambridge Springs Trap is about to happen:

This trap is therefore a counter to the Cambridge Springs Trap, not just a way to take the queen. Instead of white trading pawns, they move their king’s pawn. Black now knows the Cambridge Springs Trap will likely not work. They move their bishop then, to un-pin their knight:

With this defense in place, white develops their other knight, and black castles to get out of the way:

Both sides then move to develop pieces:

Now, with the Cambridge Springs Trap doomed to fail, it is safe for white to trade pawns and launch the Rubinstein Trap, beginning with a pawn trade:

After this, more development occurs, with white castling:

Now white plays an unexpected move, using the knight to capture the pawn:

Black might be tempted to capture the knight and remove it from the board. It is just a pawn, after all. If it is captured, black has little to lose.

Right?

Look at the board, and guess white’s next move:

If you want the answer, it is this:

Black then moves their bishop to c7, trapping the queen:

The queen now has nowhere to go, and will be captured in the next move.

Even if black doesn’t take the knight, you still have control of the center, and have removed a developed pawn from the board.

So how can you counter this trap?

The best way to do so is to NOT move your knight from f6. Keeping your knight there allows you to take the white knight without moving the pawn:

And if white decides to trade knights and bishops, they cannot finish the trap.

Whenever you are able to capture a knight with a pawn, you often do so. However, as seen here, that can lead to disaster. My next post will show that sometimes, capturing a knight will not lead to you losing a queen, but lead to you being checkmated.

Until then

— ChessPawn921