Final position — White is winning
Bird's Opening: Nxh2 Sacrifice
White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Lang - Multhopp, Philadelphia 1995)
The moves
| 1. | f4 | e5 |
| 2. | fxe5 | d6 |
| 3. | exd6 | Bxd6 |
| 4. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Nc3 | O-O |
| 6. | e4 | Re8 |
| 7. | d3 | Ng4 |
| 8. | Be2 | Nxh2 |
| 9. | Nxh2 | Bg3+ |
| 10. | Kf1 | Qd4 |
How the Bird's Opening: Nxh2 Sacrifice works
The Bird's Opening: Nxh2 Sacrifice is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Bird's opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 O-O 6.e4 Re8 7.d3 Ng4 8.Be2 Nxh2 9.Nxh2 Bg3+ 10.Kf1 Qd4. 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 (Lang - Multhopp, Philadelphia 1995). 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: Nxh2 Sacrifice 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.