The Best Opening Trap I Know: The Scotch Gambit
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The Scotch Gambit is a great opening trap for beginners and experienced players alike. It’s most effective in the 500 to 1000 range. The gambit is most often used to gain space on the board, and in some cases, get a rook in the beginning of the game. The Scotch Gambit follows e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4. The most common response after Bc4 by black is Nf6, a good counter. It defends against Bg5 (attacking the queen), and threatens to win the e4 pawn. The best continuation from here for white is Ng5. This follows the main line of the Scotch Gambit, threatening to fork black’s queen and their rook, winning material. High rated players will often play Ne5, attacking white’s bishop and defending the f7 square. A slightly weaker response by black is to play Qe7, and move their rook out of the way when white’s knight manages the f7 pawn. However, this allowed for a discovered attack, allowing white to trade a bishop and knight for a rook, something black might not want despite being ahead in material by one point. (I would post a game here for visual reference, but I unfortunately don’t know how to do that). I hope you found this helpful and please let me know about any insights you have.