Stafford Gambit Traps
The Stafford Gambit is initiated after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6(The Petrov's Defense) 3. Nxe5 Nc6(The Stafford Gambit)
The only real move for them is to take our knight, with 4. Nxc6, we must capture back with the d-pawn(dxc6). This gambit is reliant on your opponent to blunder. If you ever play someone like Magnus, or Hikaru, don't use this, play more solidly. That being said you still want to learn the gambit. Let's begin.
Trap #1
White's e4 pawn is under attack so they must defend. If they push with e5, because they're mean, we will hop the knight to e4, taking the space that the pawn once occupied. If white notices your beautifully placed knight and try kicking it with d3, sacrifice it. Play Bc5.
If they take our knight, this loses the queen. After dxe4 Bxf2+!! the king can't take because that leaves the defense of the queen. The king can only move to e2. After Ke2 Bg4+ wins the queen.
If they play f3 to kick the knight instead we play Qh4+, this wins the rook. If they move the king the continuations are shown below.
If after we play Bc5 they play Be3, trade and play Qh4+ again. If Ke2 Qf2# is checkmate. If g3 Nxg3. If after that they save the rook, with Rg1, Ne4+ will win the rook or Qf2# again.
If they know their openings and play d4, we play Qh4, threatening mate on f2. If they block with g3, take on g3 with the knight!! If they take with the h-pawn you take their rook. If they take with the f-pawn, Qe4+ wins their rook.
If they think, and play Qf3(or Be3) to defend, we play Be6. Now if they try kicking your knight, we can(with something like Bd3), we solidify with f4. If they en passant, recapture with the knight. Our usual set up in the Stafford Gambit is to castle queenside, with bishops on the 3rd rank and castle queenside.
Trap #2
Let's go back to when they played e5, before that.
If they defend with Nc3, we go for usual Bc5. If they play d3, play Ng4, attacking f2. Their only way to defend is with Be3, which we take with the knight, and capture our pawn with the bishop.
That position is winning. If instead of d3 they copy us with Bc4, we will play Ng4 again. To cover this they might castle. We will play Qh4, mate is threatened on h2, we threaten to take on f2, we are winning. Only move to stop Qh2 mate is h3, after that we take on f2 with the knight. If they take the knight we take the rook with the queen, we are up material. If they move their queen, they're getting mated after Nxh3+, double check, Kh1 by them, we play Nf2+ and Qh1 is mate!
If Be2 instead of Bc4, we play Qd4, threatening mate on f2 and the pawn on e4. When they castle, take the pawn with the knight, then the queen. If they play Bf3, we play Qa4, 'cause we wanna control d4. We can castle queenside or kingside.
Their best move is h3, controlling g4. Our next moves will be Be3, Qd3(to attack h2 in the future) and queenside castling. If they castle kingside, check if Bxh3!! is possible. If it is, you can take on h3, and if they take Qg3+! They can't take because the f-pawn is pinned, after Kh1 Qxh3 Kg1, we can play h5, planning to play Ng4, and if they trade there, we have the open h-file for our queen and rook.
Trap #3
Let's bring it back once more.
Their best move is d3. If you hadn't guessed our move, we play Bc5. Here comes the best part of this gambit. If they play Bg5, we can take on e4. If they take our queen, our bishop takes on f2, check. After they play Ke2, we play Bg4, check mate. If they take our knight our queen takes their bishop... Or we can win their queen! Bxf2, if Ke2, Bg4+ wins the queen. If they take on f2, Qxd8.
If they play Be3, trade. We attack e3 with Ng4. Only god way to defend is with something like Qf3. We attack with Qg5, and yet again, they only have one real way to defend, with a king move up. Sacrifice the knight on h2. If they accept we play Qe5, a fork of the rook on h2 and the pawn on b2(which if taken wins the rook on a1).
If they play h3, to control g4 after we played Bc5, we can sacrifice the bishop on f2. If they don't take we just won back our gambitted pawn, and can drop the bishop back. If they take, we can play Nxe4 check. They can't take because we can take their queen.
If Ke1, Qh4+ and Qf2 will be mate next turn. If Kg1, we play Qd4 and Qd6 until it's a draw.
If they play best move Be2 after Bc5, we play h5, trying to get the g4 square. If they castle we will play Ng4, if they trade we take with the pawn and have the open h-file. If they kick it with h3 we play Qd6, sacrifice the knight. If they take our knight the pawn takes and mate is threatened on h2. If they block with g3, take on g3 due to the pin of f2.
If after we sacrifice the knight, they try to save themselves with e5, we take with the knight. If they try pinning with the bishop on f4, we play Nf3+ and then take their bishop. Castle queenside.
If they play h3 before castling, we will play Qd4, threatening mate on f2. If they castle we play, Qd6, and this will likely transpose into the last line mentioned.
Back to before castling, if they play c3, to push d4, we play Ng4. If they take our knight we get the open h-file. If they play d4 we play Qh4, sacrifice the bishop. If they take our knight now take with the bishop. If they take the bishop, take on f2, and attack. If they play g3 drop the queen to f6. If they play f3, just give it all up with h4. If they take the knight or bishop, take on g3. Can't take back because the pawn is pinned, Qf2+ is threatened, they should play Be3 to defend. Have your rook take on h2. Trades and the pawn soon promote. If Kd2, prep to long castle and bring the rook to support your h-pawn.
That is basically it for the Stafford Gambit. Good luck and have fun!
