My Favourite Opening Trap
I'm sure you'd love to see a very sneaky opening trap, right?
Well, when I was recording an upcoming video course, I remembered a trap I had created in 2007.
It was very crafty, because it's a move that looked like it fell into a tactic by Black, but actually, if they played their 'trap', I had a counter-trap ready to win the game!
The setting was 2007, when I was 15 years old and rated in the 2100s. I had just come back from chess tournaments in Singapore and Malaysia - which is perhaps where I first truly appreciated how comfortable I felt living in South-East Asia.
I also appreciated how uncomfortable I felt playing the King's Indian Defence, but that's a story for another post!
In any case, I was playing the 2007 Ryde-Eastwood Open, which was quite strong that year (with a GM, IM and two FMs in the field). I'd had the tournament of my life thus far, beating an FM, drawing as Black with an IM (thanks to giving up the King's Indian and learning a more solid defence to 1.d4), and winning against one of Australia's top female players (ironically, with a King's Indian setup).
I was in outright second on 4.5/5, facing FM Igor Bjelobrk (pictured below), who was in the outright lead on 5/5. Despite being outrated by more than 300 points (on national ratings), I had the White pieces and was very confident, as I had been quite successful against Igor with the White pieces in the past.
Igor played a lot of different openings vs. 1.d4 at that time (and was also one of the world's very strongest bughouse players, at least in the top 5). I noticed that most of them were sidelines aimed at confusing an unprepared opponent. Therefore, I checked them quickly (conserving my energy for the next day), and prepared a few traps that would set him some practical problems.
So, you can imagine my exhiliaration when he played into my biggest trap!
The game went as follows: 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Nc3 (later I switched to 4.Bd3!) 4...Bb4 5.Bd3 f5 and now I set my trap with 6.f3!:
I also played this moves very quickly, but not too quickly! I played quickly enough that it would look like I blundered, but not so quickly that it would be obvious that I had prepared this line
I eventually stopped playing this line because 6...Nc6 (for instance) is fine for Black, but in the game, my opponent went for the pawn grab with 6...fxe4 7.fxe4 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Bxe4, missing my tactic in the diagram position below. Can you find it?
The point of the trap becomes clear - we avoid 9.Bxe4 Qh4 forks by covering the h5-square, and in the meantime, White's threats prove far stronger, as the following miniature shows:
Unfortunately I don't have access to my game vs. Igor, as it's in my old scoresheets files in Sydney and I'm currently in Vietnam! However, I remember that he somehow sacked his queen for a rook and minor piece, and despite my technique not being the best, I successfully converted the material advantage into a win.
Later I even got to show my game, with this opening trap, at my first official group coaching event! I still have vivid memories of this, as I remember that coaching came very naturally for me, despite this being my first time showing a game to a group of people I didn't know at all beforehand.
In the end, I didn't win the 2007 Ryde-Eastwood Open - I lost the key last-round game to Junta Ikeda (pictured below) in a Hippo that turned into a messy King's Indian structure - but this tournament definitely showed me that my own hard work and my training with GM Ian Rogers was really paying off, and that I had improved substantially from my second experience playing chess overseas.
Did you know that you can also employ my trap with the Black pieces? It even caught out GM Peter Heine Nielsen (who has been Carlsen's trainer for many years, and was also Anand's chief second for nearly a decade) in the 2015 World Blitz Championship.
Here is that game:
This is an even better version of my trap, in fact, because my version gives Black a fine position if he avoids the trap (which is not the case after the stronger 4.Bd3!). However, in this Nimzo-Larsen line, ...f6 is Black's best move, and you could even make an argument that it's better to have the pawn on c7 than c5, as it makes 6.Nc3 less effective, though it's still a very reasonable move, of course. My own preference would probably be for the creative 6.Nh3, which sets a little trap of its own (6...Bxh3? 7.Qh5! avoids the doubling of the h-pawns and slightly favours White).
As it turns out, Black actually missed a crushing combination on move 12 (though his continuation was also good enough to win). Black could have played 12...Bxg3!, as White obviously can't play 13.hxg3 (...Qxh5) or 13.Kxg3 (...Qxg1 and ...Qxg7 follow). However, after 13.Ke2, Black can simply play 13...Qxg1, when White is behind in material and facing a big attack. White is clearly lost.
This is an even better version of my trap, in fact, because my version gives Black a fine position if he avoids the trap (which is not the case after the stronger 4.Bd3!). However, in this Nimzo-Larsen line, ...f6 is Black's best move, and you could even make an argument that it's better to have the pawn on c7 than c5, as it makes 6.Nc3 less effective, though it's still a very reasonable move, of course. My own preference would probably be for the creative 6.Nh3, which sets a little trap of its own (6...Bxh3? 7.Qh5! avoids the doubling of the h-pawns and slightly favours White).
As it turns out, Black actually missed a crushing combination on move 12 (though his continuation was also good enough to win). Black could have played 12...Bxg3!, as White obviously can't play 13.hxg3 (...Qxh5) or 13.Kxg3 (...Qxg1 and ...Qxg7 follow). However, after 13.Ke2, Black can simply play 13...Qxg1, when White is behind in material and facing a big attack. White is clearly lost.
As you can see, there are very personal reasons why this is my favourite trap!
Do you remember the moves for these traps? If not - you can revise them above, to make sure you can either play them in your own games, or avoid them!
This post is a sample from my upcoming video course 'Winning Opening Traps'. It is not published at the time of writing. If you'd like to know when it will be released, I recommend you join my FREE email list here, where you will receive daily Grandmaster lessons from me
Let us know - What is your favourite opening trap?
Do you remember the moves for these traps? If not - you can revise them above, to make sure you can either play them in your own games, or avoid them!
This post is a sample from my upcoming video course 'Winning Opening Traps'. It is not published at the time of writing. If you'd like to know when it will be released, I recommend you join my FREE email list here, where you will receive daily Grandmaster lessons from me
Let us know - What is your favourite opening trap?
