Now, white plays with the mainline Nxf7 and then we sacrifice our Bishop on f2 to lure the white king out.
I have already covered all the set-ups when the King recaptures on f2, in this part, I will cover both moves if White does not capture back and just moves his/her king.
Now let's get started, Now what do you do if white plays Ke2? This is the worst move for white since he/she is not taking your bishop and you gain a tempo by playing Nd4+. Now if either White takes your bishop or even moves to d3, the ideas will be the same discussed in part 1. You're just going to attack with all of your pieces and you're in even stronger position with white not taking you bishop right away.
Now let's say white throws a curve-ball at you and plays Kf1? Believe it or not, this is the best move for white to play instead of taking your bishop. Now the Knight is attacking our queen so we must move her to e7. We have 2 hanging pieces at the moment and white can take either of them.
Let's start with the obvious move, NxR. The key move is d5, throwing a punch at the bishop while stopping support of the knight on H8, and opening our Queen-side bishop on a long diagonal. White can take our pawn with their bishop or pawn. If they take with their bishop, play Bg4 and their queen is dead. So taking with their bishop is a bad idea. Another move is take with their pawn. Our knight is hit so we will move it to d4. Whited has a few moves to play to like h3 or Be2 to save their queen. If either of them is played, save your bishop and move him back to h4. Now our goal is to attack the king with all of our pieces and bring our other knight to the center. Now the other option is to take the bishop on f2. We throw a punch at white with Ng4+. Now not matter where white moves his king, move your queen to f6. Now we have so many threats to make like trapping the rook on a1. Going back, if white play c3 instead of taking your bishop or preventing your bishop from trapping the queen. They are planning on attacking your knight and give their queen a place to run away. We will go ahead and attack her with our bishop. Queen escapes to a4 which results in us being in check. We will block with our knight on f6. Now if white either takes your other knight or bishop, place your queen on f6 and white is in big trouble. If white attacks your queen with dxe5, move your queen to f4 still pressuring white's king and pinning the bishop to the queen. It should be an easy win for you.
Let's go all the way back to where white can either take your rook or bishop. Now what if white decides to take your bishop instead? We need to save our rook so let's move it to f8 attacking the open file. White can't play a casual move like Nc3 since you can play Qc5+ and his/her bishop is dead. So they have to protect the bishop by playing d3. This is the best move for white. Like before, we will push d5. If bishop takes, we play Nxd5, Exd5, then we take their knight on f7. It's check and we threaten mate on the next move. They have no their option apart from blocking with their queen. then we can retake on d5 and their queen is dead. Going back, if they take with their pawn, then Ng4+. What white should play is Ke1, but if they play something like Kg1, then it's Qc5+ and d4 is forced. Then we take with our knight and we are in a huge winning position. Even if white plays Ke1 (the best move), we can take the knight with our queen on f7 and we threaten mate on f2. Even if white tries to bring to queen in the game by bringing it to d2/e2 (let's say e2) then bring your knight to d4 and we have so many threats on on the board. If instead white tries to exchange queens on f3, move your queen away to g3 and attack their queen with your rook. Qg3 is the best move. Then again we play Nd4 threatening c2. If white plays something like Bb3 protecting c2, then you can play Rf2 and white is in big trouble.
I've said this before in part 1 but, white's queen-side pieces are no use and that's what you should take advantage of.
I heavily used this video to explain this part 2 of the Traxler Counter Attack (and for copyright reasons)
Before reading this, I highly suggest reading the first part first before reading part.
Just like part 1, I suggest you follow along with your own chessboard
Let's review the Traxler counter attack set-up. (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5)
Now, white plays with the mainline Nxf7 and then we sacrifice our Bishop on f2 to lure the white king out.
I have already covered all the set-ups when the King recaptures on f2, in this part, I will cover both moves if White does not capture back and just moves his/her king.
Now let's get started, Now what do you do if white plays Ke2? This is the worst move for white since he/she is not taking your bishop and you gain a tempo by playing Nd4+. Now if either White takes your bishop or even moves to d3, the ideas will be the same discussed in part 1. You're just going to attack with all of your pieces and you're in even stronger position with white not taking you bishop right away.
Now let's say white throws a curve-ball at you and plays Kf1? Believe it or not, this is the best move for white to play instead of taking your bishop. Now the Knight is attacking our queen so we must move her to e7. We have 2 hanging pieces at the moment and white can take either of them.
Let's start with the obvious move, NxR. The key move is d5, throwing a punch at the bishop while stopping support of the knight on H8, and opening our Queen-side bishop on a long diagonal. White can take our pawn with their bishop or pawn. If they take with their bishop, play Bg4 and their queen is dead. So taking with their bishop is a bad idea. Another move is take with their pawn. Our knight is hit so we will move it to d4. Whited has a few moves to play to like h3 or Be2 to save their queen. If either of them is played, save your bishop and move him back to h4. Now our goal is to attack the king with all of our pieces and bring our other knight to the center. Now the other option is to take the bishop on f2. We throw a punch at white with Ng4+. Now not matter where white moves his king, move your queen to f6. Now we have so many threats to make like trapping the rook on a1. Going back, if white play c3 instead of taking your bishop or preventing your bishop from trapping the queen. They are planning on attacking your knight and give their queen a place to run away. We will go ahead and attack her with our bishop. Queen escapes to a4 which results in us being in check. We will block with our knight on f6. Now if white either takes your other knight or bishop, place your queen on f6 and white is in big trouble. If white attacks your queen with dxe5, move your queen to f4 still pressuring white's king and pinning the bishop to the queen. It should be an easy win for you.
Let's go all the way back to where white can either take your rook or bishop. Now what if white decides to take your bishop instead? We need to save our rook so let's move it to f8 attacking the open file. White can't play a casual move like Nc3 since you can play Qc5+ and his/her bishop is dead. So they have to protect the bishop by playing d3. This is the best move for white. Like before, we will push d5. If bishop takes, we play Nxd5, Exd5, then we take their knight on f7. It's check and we threaten mate on the next move. They have no their option apart from blocking with their queen. then we can retake on d5 and their queen is dead. Going back, if they take with their pawn, then Ng4+. What white should play is Ke1, but if they play something like Kg1, then it's Qc5+ and d4 is forced. Then we take with our knight and we are in a huge winning position. Even if white plays Ke1 (the best move), we can take the knight with our queen on f7 and we threaten mate on f2. Even if white tries to bring to queen in the game by bringing it to d2/e2 (let's say e2) then bring your knight to d4 and we have so many threats on on the board. If instead white tries to exchange queens on f3, move your queen away to g3 and attack their queen with your rook. Qg3 is the best move. Then again we play Nd4 threatening c2. If white plays something like Bb3 protecting c2, then you can play Rf2 and white is in big trouble.
I've said this before in part 1 but, white's queen-side pieces are no use and that's what you should take advantage of.
I heavily used this video to explain this part 2 of the Traxler Counter Attack (and for copyright reasons)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LP8A0-aYC0
If you have any questions regarding the Traxler Counter Attack or have any suggestions on what I should write next, leave a comment below.
As always, thanks for reading