You can't be serious.
After 7..Qh4, it's not murky. It's over.
Get a chess engine. I am not going to copy down all the moves. There are a lot variations.. but you don't have to memorize them all.
The computer will get to mate however white plays. If you only win a couple of pieces, that will do.
I agree with notmtwain. After 7...Qh4 White is defenseless.
But since White gets an excellent game when he doesn't take the knight, and Black's attacking potential is so obvious if White does take the knight, the whole line is not very goood for Black
The above says it all.....The Fishing Pole is crap
What's the point of Ng4?
If the idea is just setting a trap, cannot be good...
If white doesnt fall into it, u just play an innocuous move.
U'd better play it in exchance variation with Bg4, then this move is useful.
Thanks for your comments guys. They are all appreciated.
If you are serious about improving, then you need to quit with the crap. This is the beginner stuff people fall in love with and think it will always work, while they neglect studying what it takes to improve.
Lots of junk works when your opponents are less-skilled (1. e4 e4, 2. Qh5). If you're just having fun with chess, and don't really want to get better, I don't see the harm. If you're more serious, as it seems you are, avoid the junk - you may lose more games in the short term, but you will learn more important things.
Could not agree more but if I was to play the devil's advocate here, there are a lot of players out there who take such 'junk' very seriously.
Thanks again to all those who have commented.
The main thrust of advice so far seem to have been basically to dispense with these types of gimmicks, and I can absolutely see why someone would give that advice.
My response would be that I have no been pursuing this particular trap (or others of this nature) as a specific weapon of assualt that I consider to have an deep merit but more as something fun to play around with. In relation to the fishing pole trap I think you would have to be pretty nieve or have very little respect for your opponent to take the knight, thinking that it was just a free gift of a piece, even in a short time control where you might not want to spend too much time thinking through all the possible consequences.
As I stated, I have come across this in connection with some studies of the Ruy Lopez and I have found it a nice little tool to have a play around with, more as a way of engaging myself in a methodical way of exploring and thinking through possible continuations than as some killer weapon in my arsenal.
I totally take on board the comments about there being multiple roads leading to a winning position, be it by winning of material or general destruction of the opponents defences, I could kind of see that for myself. I guess that should have been enough for me really and I could have just left it at that. However I was curious to see if there was some obvious combination that I was missing in this variation, and the fact that I could find no mention of it in the tutorials I have seen made me think that maybe there was some way to save the game for white.
I would just like to conclude by saying that this has not of course been my only line of enquiry and I have indeed been devoting more time to wider fields which have much broader and deeper application. Thanks again to all who have commented.
If you need help, please contact our Help and Support team.
Hi all,
I have been trying to improve my chess by focusing on a couple of openings and exploring some of theory a little more in depth than I have in the past. In looking into the Ruy Lopez I've come across the fishing pole trap, and I've actually had a couple of successes with it which is nice.
I've had the pieces out on my board and been playing around with some of the alternate moves that might be made and how this might affect the course of the game. One variation which is giving me particular trouble is the best way to continue (mostly as black) after white plays 7.Nh2 as in the demo board below.
The tutorials I have seen on The Fishpole have all glossed over the Knight to H2 move. After have a play around it seems to be the game becomes more complicated and quite sharpe. It seems to be that 7..., Qh4 is the best continuation, but at this point things seems to get quite murky. I can find several ways that produce very good results with white losing material and the king taking a walk into the middle of the board but nothing that gives a forced mate, although it seems like there should be one from this situation.
Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed, or any sources of information that expand on this variation.
Thanks for reading.