Final position — White delivers mate
Bird's Opening: Back-Rank Mate (Myers–Unknown)
White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Myers - Unknown, Iowa 1985)
The moves
| 1. | f4 | d5 |
| 2. | e4 | dxe4 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 4. | Qe2 | Bf5 |
| 5. | Qb5+ | Bd7 |
| 6. | Qxb7 | Bc6 |
| 7. | Bb5 | Qd7 |
| 8. | Bxc6 | Qxc6 |
| 9. | Qc8# |
How the Bird's Opening: Back-Rank Mate (Myers–Unknown) works
The Bird's Opening: Back-Rank Mate (Myers–Unknown) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Bird's opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.f4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Qe2 Bf5 5.Qb5+ Bd7 6.Qxb7 Bc6 7.Bb5 Qd7 8.Bxc6 Qxc6 9.Qc8#. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — Black walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Myers - Unknown, Iowa 1985). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Bird's Opening: Back-Rank Mate (Myers–Unknown) in the Trapsterapp to play it out on a live board, drill it in practice mode, and learn how to avoid it when it's set for you — along with the full library of chess traps and gambits, fully offline.