Fishing Pole Trap in d4 - Chess Forums

PoranDip

4 days ago

0

#1

Hey folks! After watching a few GothamChess videos, I got inspired to try out a fascinating tactic he would often talk about and play called the 'Fishing Pole'.

What is the Fishing Pole Trap?

The fishing pole is an opening trap/tactic often seen in the Ruy Lopez opening where you sacrifice your knight on the g4 square as black to open up the h-file and then set up a powerful checkmating attack with your rook and queen. The knight acts as a 'bait' with your pawn being the anchor or the 'fishing pole' to the bait.

Fishing Pole Trap in the Ruy Lopez

Fishing Pole in 1. d4 openings

d4 has a reputation for being a solid and positional opening choice where games are "slow" and "boring". Contrary to that belief, I've found games can get really fun and tactical if you play it in that aggressive fashion. And one of the tactics that has worked out really well is, you guessed it right, the fishing pole.

You can play the fishing pole in d4 openings as white after your opponent castles and plays the very common move Nf6. Here, the idea is to pin the opponent's knight to their queen with the move Bg5. When they attack the bishop with their h-pawn by playing h6, you can actually sacrifice your bishop by playing h4, with the plan to open up the h-file for your rook and queen to team up and deliver checkmate, similar to how it works out in the Ruy Lopez. A few things to note for it to work out:

Your opponent must have castled short
You must not have castled short
Your queen can reach the h-file to team up with your rook

Example game:

My Games

Here are a couple of my games where I was able to play and win with the fishing pole trap in d4! Do note that the opening trap itself didn't grant me the wins; people at my elo often see past the immediate threats, but it is still very interesting to see that Stockfish is pretty much never fond of capturing the hanging bishop which I find very interesting. You have to slowly set up your position to be able to capture the bishop or go on your own aggressive counter attacks, which is something very unheard of in d4 setups.

Game 1

Game 2

Again, I was actually lost in both of these games (the evaluation dipped to to at times), but defending requires precise play which is sometimes mysterious and difficult to find. As I said earlier, Stockfish quite literally NEVER recommends taking the hanging bishop as the best move. And because I played so aggressively, even though I wasn't able to capitalize directly with the trap, I was able to set up devastating attacks on the opponent's king and eventually win all the same.

Wrapping Up

I hope I was able to inspire you to break the norms and play fun chess no matter the opening! I'll definitely continue trying this out and I hope you give it a shot too.

ScotchFegalleto

3 days ago

0

#2

Could you play that in a game? I’m a visual learner

PoranDip

3 days ago

0

#3

ScotchFegalleto wrote:

Could you play that in a game? I’m a visual learner

I did share example games, are they not showing up?

ScotchFegalleto

3 days ago

0

#4

no

ScotchFegalleto

3 days ago

0

#5

oops nvm. I was on mobile and they weren't showing up. Now I'm on computer and its fine.

PoranDip

2 days ago

0

#6

👀 Alright then

Just_an_average_player136

2 days ago

0

#7

Wait that's actually good I'm gonna try that

Ethanchock7

2 days ago

0

#8

Nice! A pretty awesome trap!

SacrifycedStoat

1 day ago

0

#9

I agree, could you insert boards out something so I can see the moves?
Idk if you put screenshots or gifs or something but I’m on the app so I can’t see them. (Also the post is too long to see the whole thing)

PoranDip

17 hrs ago

0

#10

Ah the app seems to be all messed up. I see why everyone's running into issues. Alright, here are the games I attached:

Fishing Pole in Ruy Lopez

PoranDip

17 hrs ago

0

#11

Fishing Pole in d4 (ideal version)

PoranDip

17 hrs ago

0

#12

My Game where I played the fishing pole in d4 #1

PoranDip

17 hrs ago

0

#13

My Game where I played the fishing pole in d4 #2

PoranDip

17 hrs ago

0

#14

And also let me repeat the context I provided about my games that might be getting cut off on the app:

"Do note that the opening trap itself didn't grant me the wins; people at my elo often see past the immediate threats, but it is still very interesting to see that Stockfish is pretty much never fond of capturing the hanging bishop which I find very interesting. You have to slowly set up your position to be able to capture the bishop or go on your own aggressive counter attacks, which is something very unheard of in d4 setups."

And

"Again, I was actually lost in both of these games (the evaluation dipped to to at times), but defending requires precise play which is sometimes mysterious and difficult to find. As I said earlier, Stockfish quite literally NEVER recommends taking the hanging bishop as the best move. And because I played so aggressively, even though I wasn't able to capitalize directly with the trap, I was able to set up devastating attacks on the opponent's king and eventually win all the same."

Just_an_average_player136

16 hrs ago

0

#15

ScotchFegalleto wrote:

Could you play that in a game? I’m a visual learner

Hey wait a minute...