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This is the sort of software that, as I understand it, modern chess professionals use to develop their deep memorisation of opening lines. Of course there is a lot more opening theory to memorize now than there was a century ago back in the smoky London coffee shops of Blackburne's era.In the case of traps, I find it important to know not only what I will do each move if everything goes well, but also how to maintain a playable position of my opponent doesn't go for the trap. To that end, I plug in the trap main line, and then the possible deviations, and what I will do to ensure something like equality in the case that my opponent successfully avoids the trap by playing the correct move instead.https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chess-opening-trainer-position/id505079674?mt=8

Raw lists of traps:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_trapshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmates_in_the_openingA large list of trap variations from praxis:http://www.giochigratis-online.net/partite-scacchi/trappole-in-apertura A YouTube playlist with numerous traps, compiled by Chess.com's "Black__Knight":http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL40D652A322913118&feature=plcp

Alledgedly so-called because it's approximately that old.The theme is that Black traps White's Bishop with a pawn chain (and without creating pawn weaknesses for later, either).Most well-known in the Ruy Lopez, but of course still catches people out. Can also be employed in certain lines of the Sicilian (as often White will play Bb5, and after ...a6 really ought to play Bxc6 (or Bxd7, wherever Black's piece is; usually the Knight on c6 but sometimes a Bishop on d7), but if White tries to back up with Ba4, then ...b4 Bb3 c4 wins the Bishop for a pawn or two. Black is happy to lose the pawn(s) anyway, as it opens up files when he's ahead on material due to having won the Bishop - viz, both a material and positional advantage.

This trap in the Benko is short and perfectly plausible..

A fun checkmate trap that's easy for Black to miss as he thinks *he* is trapping White's Bishop.Black can avoid the checkmate with that last move, such as by pushing ...e6 or ...d6, but with some creative play, White can get some fair compensation for the Bishop (in some lines, even picking up Black's Rook) by playing for activity and harassing Black's King.

I learned this trap the hard way:

In-depth information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruy_Lopez,_Marshall_Attack,_Rombaua_Trap If White doesn't accept the Knight sacrifice, the Knight can just run over the King's position with Nh3+, Nxf2+, Ng5+, etc, 'til the King is truly clusterfucked. There are many variations here, but plenty of checks available, and the more double-checks, the merrier. It's pretty easy to play for Black, and nightmarish for White, especially OTB. Also, objectively lost for White after Black has played the initial Nf4 move. There are some long and mystical ways to avoid checkmate that the computer finds, but they're so arcane that your opponent is *very* unlikely to find them with the clock ticking, unless you're sitting across from Magnus Carlsen or such. They all involve giving up material and transposing to a lost endgame, regardless. So yes, check, check, checkety check, and if you get confused, repeating for the half-point is usually an option still available for Black.

In a tournament (Sicilian Dragon, actually), I notice that a couple of my opponents clearly think they're playing a different variation, and are blindly making moves as though they're playing a Sveshnikov or against a Najdorf, for instance, regardless of what my pieces are doing. So I got to thinking what could be made of that in some variations. So, playing against the Najdorf, for instance... Ok, first we need to assume familiarity with the standard Poison Pawn variation: Now, the trap version, to catch out anyone blindly playing their own moves from memory without paying enough attention to the slight differences in position.

After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5, White will usually accept the gambit pawn, so this trap is most likely to get most use: Note that White still can't take the Bishop even after exchanging Knights, as this game from one of our group members shows:

The Danish Gambit offers a lot of opportunities for Black to lose very early on; here's how to play for them as White:

No risk in this nice line in the Caro. If Black plays the moves prescribed, White's replies in this line are the most popular ones in the database, except for the final move, which is a blunder by White.Excellent trap for short time control games especially:

(Annotations courtesy of Azukikuru)

An opponent who is mirroring you may miss a trap, since checks (and like-for-like captures, for that matter, say QxQ for example) cannot be mirrored."There's always one", so it's fun to know the principle to punish it when it occurs :)1) Notice that your opponent is mirroring2) Lead your opponent into making a move that allows you to check or perform a like-for-like capture that cannot be mirrored3) Mate or at least gain material, based on having ruined his position by essentially playing his moves for him. Note: Make sure that in making an inferior move in order to lead your opponent astray, that they would not gain any advantage too damaging if they should choose that moment to deviate. Like Capa's 9. Qd2?!, it gave Black a small positional advantage, but he will have been confident of his ability to rescue the win anyway.