7. Legal Trap

The Legal Trap derives from the Italian game where white develops his light square bishop to the c4 square on the third move, adding pressure to the d5 light square. If black responds by building his defense with d6 then white can simply go into the Legal Trap.

The Legal Trap is one of the more common traps that any chess player will come across. This is because it is found in a very common opening and none of the moves made by black look terribly bad on the surface. As we can see though, black will have to make a choice to take the bait from white and capture the queen, losing the game, or instead go down in material and fight on to see another day. Anytime a player exposes his queen, it is really hard for the other player not to take it. That is why this trap works so well. Also if they don’t take the bait, you are still in a great position.

8. Elephant Trap

The Elephant Trap derives from the Queen’s Gambit Declined lines. Black defends the Queens Gambit by simply developing his pawn to e6, keeping the tension on the d5 pawn. White continues to develop his knight and apply even more pressure.

Black then starts to set the elephant trap by developing his own knight to f6, baiting the white bishop to come to f5, pinning the knight down to the queen. Black simply brings his own knight to d7. At first glance, this move looks like a mistake by black. If white sees this and falls for the trap, though, it will be a huge mistake. Black can simply sacrifice his own queen with the forced moves that will win back white’s queen and put black in a dominating position.

9. Fishing Pole Trap

The Fishing Pole Trap is one of the easiest traps for white to fall for. Many times, grandmasters have lost to club players at the hands of the fishing pole. If a player is not familiar with the fishing pole the number of ways to hang themselves are sometimes too great and the game can end quickly.

The Fishing Pole stems from the Berlin Defense when white responds with the most common main line move of 4. 0-0. After white castles, black has an interesting move of Ng4. This looks like an odd move because the knight has moved twice in the beginning which is usually not a good thing. The knight is also exposed on the other side of the board and looks to be very vulnerable.

White’s most logical play is to kick the knight out with h3, gaining a tempo and forcing the knight to dance around the board even more. What white doesn’t realize is that black is not going to move his knight and instead will play h5, supporting his knight and baiting white to capture. The problem for white is that if he does capture the knight the game will be lost. Black can capture with his pawn on g4, then bring his queen to h4 and there is nothing that white can do. The game will end shortly in defeat. Even if white tries to develop some of his other pieces, if he ends up taking the knight, the game will end up very bad for white. The great thing about the trap is that if it does not work out, black can simply bring his knight back to a safe square and does not lose much as far as position and development. The possibility of an easy win is usually worth taking a shot with the fishing pole.

10. Englund Gambit Trap

This trap starts out with the Englund Gambit which is 1. d4 e5. This is not a recommended opening for black but something that you might see if you start with d4 and very important to understand how to move forward.

The Englund Gambit Trap is an ambitious attempt by black to lure white into making rational, but dangerous moves. Black will give up the e pawn early on and then bring out his queen for a quick attack on the queen side of the board. The critical move comes after black takes with 5…Qxb2.

In this spot white may be tempted to play Bc3 and attack the queen but the better move is to play Nc3.

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