In today’s chess Post, we are going to look at some amazing chess opening tricks and traps in the center game. We start with the king’s pawn opening – e4,e5 followed by d4, which is called the center game.
The most common reply from the black is to take this pawn, which is the accepted line. From here, an aggressive move could be c3,. : as White, we play Queen takes on d4, and Black attacks the queen with the knight, as expected. From here, we are going to look at 4 different traps one by one.
But along with these Traps, I also want you to understand the tactical ideas that we’ll use here. Because these tactics can be easily applied to similar positions in your other games as well.
Let’s start with the first trap, setting it up with Queen to a4. Here black goes for queen e7 attacking this central pawn. Then knight c3 defending the pawn. Black goes for knight f6, putting additional pressure on the center. Then we go for bishop g5 pinning this knight to the queen. Now black goes for a pawn to d5, adding a third attacker on this pawn. Keep in mind black can play these 3 moves in any order, but his main idea is to attack the center so ultimately you will reach this same position only.
Now in this position, we will completely ignore this pawn and instead, a castle on the queenside inviting black to capture this pawn. Black takes and we take back with our knight. Now if black tries to be greedy and take our knight, then he is gone.
Let me show you how. He can’t take with the knight because of this pin so he takes with the queen and now you might think that we have gifted our knight for free, but we actually have a brilliant tactical idea here. Can you find it? Yes, it’s rook to d8 check. He can’t take with this knight because itis pinned to the king and if he takes with the king, then we can simply gobble up his queen.
He won’t be able to take back with the knight because now this knight is pinned to the king. That’s what you call an incredible queen trap. Now let’s look at another one, but this time it’s from Black’s side. After queen d4 and knight c6, white goes for queen e3, which is quite a standard move in this opening. Then we go for knight f6 and white plays bishopc4, attacking this weak f7 square. After this, we’ll go for a knight to e5, attacking this bishop. The bishop drops back to b3 keeping it on this diagonal.
Now we will go for bishop b4 check. If white blocks with the bishop, then we have an equal position. But most often, you will see pawn c3 attacking the bishop. This is where we can unleash a deadly trap with bishop c5 hitting the queen. Now if the queen takes, then we have knightd3 forking the king and queen.
Therefore, taking the bishop is not a good idea. He has to move his queen and g3 looks quite natural since it attacks this g7 pawn. But then we have another tactical idea, can you find it? It’s the stunning move, bishop to f2 check, threatening both the king and queen. If he takes with the queen, then knight d3again is forking the king and queen.
And after bishop takes, if the king captures on f2, then we have the other knight joining in the action with the knight takes e4 check, which again wins the queen. Alright, now let’s look at another interesting trap that you can play as black. After queen d4, knight c6, queen e3, we straight away go for bishop b4 check. White blocks with the pawn. So we have to retreat our bishop.
Now white has many options like knight f3, bishop b5, but bishop c4 is quite common so let’s go with that. In the center game, black is generally reluctant to play knight f6 because of this pawn push. But at this point, we can go for this move because there is a secret little trap here. After knight f6, if white attacks with e5, instead of immediately moving away from your knight, just think: Is there any way to ignore this threat and counterattack? There is actually a nice little tactic here.
Let’s see how it works. So we ignore this knight and go for a short castle on the Kingside. If white falls for this trap and takes our knight, then we have this beautiful move, rook to e8, and this sweetie is gone. White can’t move his queen because it is pinned to the king.
Therefore, black wins the queen and ends up with a match-winning advantage! Moving on, let’s look at an incredible game where White used some interesting tactical ideas to checkmate the black king. But before that, a quick reminder. If you want to enjoy more chess content like puzzles, facts, quotes, etc, you can follow me on Instagram at Chess Talk Official.
Alright, In the center game, after Queen d4, Knight c6, white went for Queen e3 as usual. Then black played bishop b4 check. White blocked with the c pawn, attacking the bishop. Bishop goes back. Then comes bishop c4. Now black develops his knight to e7, preparing to castle. Then comes queen g3 attacking this pawn. Black simply castles and prevents any such threats. White did not attempt bishop h6 since black can easily diffuse it by playing knight g6. Instead white goes for h4 trying to control this square first. Sensing a strong attack, black wanted to shift his pieces towards the Kingside, therefore, he went for knight g6.
Then came h5 as expected. Black moved his knight to e5 attacking the bishop. And here’s where white came up with an absolutely mind-blowing combination. Can you find it? White started with bishop g5 attacking the queen. Now black cannot take the bishop since itis protected by the queen. Nor can he push this pawn forward because of this check.
Therefore, he has to move his queen to e8. And then comes bishop f6 which is winning the spot. White is threatening a mate on the next moves Black played g6. White captured on g6 and now If black takes with the pawn, then rook to h8 is a checkmate. Therefore, instead of the pawn, black captured with this knight. But then, white sacrificed his queen, by queeng6 check.
Black took with the pawn and white finished off the game with this rook to h8 checkmate. Okay, so it’s puzzle time. Let’s pick a puzzle from one of my favorite apps, that is Chess Universe.
