
The Amazing Fishing Pole Trap
The Fishing Pole trap is a wonderful mate, and one of the reasons why I like it so much is because you have so many chances to play it, and it really just catches your opponent by surprise. Here is the Fishing Pole Trap:
Starting with the Ruy Lopez opening, black plays Ng4, which may seem strange to white. White's natural instinct would be to get that knight out of their territory, therefore playing h3. When black plays h5, white assumes that this is a blunder and takes the knight, feeling good about being up a piece. Then comes hxg4, which kicks the knight off of f3 and clears an open file, making the white king extremely vulnerable. After the knight retreats to e1 and the queen comes to h4, white realizes that he's in trouble. With the queen and the rook overpowering the h-file, the king becomes incredibly vulnerable. The only way to prevent mate in one is by playing f3, opening up some space for the king. But it doesn't matter because black can play g3, and there is no way to stop mate in one. In this situation, white plays Rf2, trying to distract the mate, but it doesn't work because queen to h1 is checkmate. The fishing pole trap is a beautiful trap that you can play quite often.