Birthday Special! Opening Traps + Gambits You Can Use

Traps, traps, traps. There are a ton of chess traps out there and some are still in it works. There are many traps that you may use to win quick games which may lead you to a "rating spike". Some people make learning these traps too complicated to learn but I will try to explain some traps to you in a nutshell, but that isn't without some basic explanation. This blog post will go through 10 opening traps that you can use in games. Hope you enjoy!

1. Caro Kann Trap

Starting off with one of the lesser-known traps, the Caro Kann trap may be something you might have to use though I doubt you'll use it very often. It's good to know this trap just in case. Here's the diagram with explanation.

Overall, the chances of someone playing the Karpov Caro Kann are slim but if you're playing a bullet or blitz game and your opponent plays the Karpov, try this trap out and maybe they'll fall for it!

2. Lasker Trap

The Lasker Trap derives from white's most popular response after 1...d5, the Queen's Gambit. It's a tricky one and may need some memorizing. This is how it goes:

The chances you use this trap may be even lower that the Caro Kann trap. Still, very useful trap and should win you some games.

3. Tennison Gambit

The Tennison Gambit is a gambit that took over the chess world at one point (I think). This gambit for me is questionable, and I still don't know why. This isn't a total trap, but it wins a queen. Let's see how it goes.

This is a great gambit if you want to win some fast games, so you might want to give this a shot. As I mentioned, there are numerous ways that black can defend its e5 pawn so that's something you'll have to dive deeper into.

4. Traxler Counterattack

Ah, yes. The beloved Traxler. To many, this is just another W in their books when they play against an inexperienced player, and everything goes to plan. I myself am against the Traxler but to the viewers who like the Traxler, this is for you.

Overall, not a Traxler person, more of an Ulvestad player but the Traxler is perfect for you if you're looking for something tricky and preferably higher rated because you'll need to memorize lines but of course, this is for anyone.

5. Légal Trap

I don't know about the name choice, but I learned this one recently and figured it was a nice trap. So, I will present it to the audience and explain it.

This isn't my favourite one out of all we've seen today but it's neat, sacrifices a queen and maybe a weapon to use against lower rated players.

6. Blackburne Shilling Gambit

As someone who's learning the Italian, I might as well learn this gambit. The Blackburne Shilling Gambit sacrifices a pawn for a deadly attack which if white doesn't know its stuff, you get a win. Let's see how it goes:

A great weapon to use if you can, I would recommend it to my friends if they learned chess more. Kinda sucks they don't like the game. Imagine.

7. Budapest Gambit

The Budapest is one of the gambits that emerge from the Queen's Pawn Opening. I mean, it's not my ideal preference but I would go for it if you feel a bit risky... Also, there's a trap with it so that's something you'll want to know. Let's go.

This might be something you can try to pull off. From my experience, you'll experience the Adler Variation more often than the Rubenstein. You might as well have this for later games, who knows when this will be useful?

8. Evan's Gambit

I'm no expert in the Evan's Gambit here but it is a very powerful gambit which gives you a big lead in development and a strong attack which can end in devastating attacks. What's this one like?

The Evan's Gambit overall is a really good gambit. If you're interested in this, I suggest researching deeper into this. This gambit has a few lines you might need to study so I would recommend reading this article. It's a great summary of the Evan's Gambit.

9. Halosar Trap

The Halosar I just found a few days ago, so it would be nice to show you. This comes from the Blackmar Gambit (1. d4 d5 2. e4). It's more of an uncommon gambit so let's get to it.

I would try to pull this off but it's unlikely that you'll face these exact moves. Good luck on trying to pull this off.

10. Fried Liver Attack

Finally. Ryan, where was the Fried Liver? Did you forget it? Of course, I didn't. This is my favourite one on this list! If you don't like this, that's shocking. I'll make you like it right now.

After Ke6, there are some lines you'll have to learn and remember. This is a good attack; it's just it needs time to adapt to it. It might seem like a bad way to start off but trust me, it's one of the best things chess has given us.

Those are 10 chess opening traps and gambits which you can use in your own games. I really thought I wouldn't be able to finish this. If you made it this far, thank you for reading! This took time and hope you liked it! I'll be posting a Halloween bot blog post 4-5 days from now. Have a good one,

-Ryan