Englund Gambit Trap

One of my favorite chess traps is the Englund Gambit trap. The trap must be played by black and is very easy to do.

It may be easy to play, but Black is betting on White not knowing their opening theory as White really is better here as long as they know what they are doing. After 5...Qxb2, this is all super well-know theory. Now the first missed opportunity here was White playing 6.Bc3 when 6.Nc3 is the way to play it for an advantage (The Rook is now defended by the Queen). 

If this shown line is played, then on move 8 Black should capture the Bishop on b4, not the pawn! Even after 8...Nxe5?? then why resign  White has 9.Bc3!? and we fork the Queen and the pawn-grabbing Knight.

If black plays 8...Nxe5 then 9.Bc3, forking the queen and knight black can simply play 9.Nxf3 picking exchanging the knight with a check, then both the queen and knight saved.

No dice - if only Black had an escape that simple ... 

After 9.Bc3 if ...Nxf3+ 10.exf3 then how does Black save the game? If they don't want to lose the Queen, they might play something like ...Qa2, but then White plays 11.Bxg7! and White wins the trapped Rook! Placing the Bishop on the long diagonal with 9.Bc3 has more than a simple fork, there is pressure against Black's Kingside.

nice

U actually didn't play the best move on move 8. Nxb4 is the best move.

Black is dead lost after 6.Nc3.

I guess that this hardly matters, as the whole "analysis" is a blunder parade:

I have caught even some 1800s in Englund. And, below 1500, it worked 90% of the time. Not every player knows every trap. There are just too many traps to know. That's why opening traps work. 

The thing with Englund is that white plays mostly natural moves. Yet, falls for trap. Knowing that Bc3 does not work and playing Nc3 requires white to specifically prepare for Englund.  

Oh, and black doesnt have to play for the trap. Black can just Gambit the pawn and play normally. Why would black want to Gambit the pawn for nothing?

Because, these days, 1.d4 is being played by many white players to get into London system. And they use London system because they don't want to learn opening theory or traps. 1. .e5 completely disrupts their plans and takes them into unfamiliar territory. In short, black can play Englund as anti-London system. 

If playing the London System encourages 1...e5, then the London is surely the best opening available for white. Why play this when you can avoid the London by playing then Modern Defense? Also, everyone who reads these threads on chess.com, and who has lost against you in the Englund, already knows to avoid the trap. Also surely 1...e5 is also a lazy attempt by black to avoid opening theory in the London System, which is what you're accusing white of? In fact, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to play the London, while 1...e5 is exclusively a cheap trick to avoid opening theory.

London players like:

1) closed centre (with slav type structure)

2) familiar piece setup ( the regular London setup)

3) open h file to attack opponent kingside.

Modern defense or KID gives London players familiar piece setup and closed centre. Mostly, KID and London cancel out each other. So, I would guess that London players have to play something different against KID or if they play London, then they will just shuffle their pieces here and there and finally go into an endgame. And some random blunder will decide the game.

Englund puts breaks on London from move 1. London player will simply have to start thinking from move 1 and he is on unfamiliar territory. I think Englund works as an excellent anti-london (at least under 2000). Englund is a lazy way to do it? Perhaps. 😊 

IM pfren (post #7), I am just curious as to why you chose to recapture on move 10 with 10.gxf3!? instead of my proposed 10.exf3. I felt that exf3 was the natural option because White is opening up the a6-f1 diagonal for the Bishop while not voluntarily fracturing the Kingside. I thought that White had to play 10.exf3 or give up the idea of castling; is there some deeper point of 10.gxf3!? that currently escapes me? Are you perhaps attempting to use the open g-file for the Rook? It looks like Black will castle long if at all; is the g-file really worth anything for our cause, or is there some other reason for the g (instead of e) capture?

It doesn't matter which way: Both recaptures leave white a piece up for nothing.

Not checked theory for ages but from my recollection 4.Qd5 is a quite efficient move and black faces some problems developing unless exchanging the e5 pawn and then white remains a pawn up. Not saying 4.Bf4 is bad by any means but there are some tricky lines you need to learn if you're playing 4.Bf4.

There aren't any tricky lines after 4.Bf4 really once the queen is on a3 so there aren't any tricks on c2.

I played the Englund Gambit once against an opponent who had announced they'd be playing the London System (It was a club practice game).