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Final position — White delivers mate

Bishop's opening

Bishop's Opening: Pawn Mate

White wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Wall, Bill - Webcrawler, 1997.??.??)

The moves

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd5 Bg4 5.Qe2 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 b5 7.dxc6 bxc4 8.c7 e4 9.Qxe4+ Qe7 10.c8=Q#
1.e4e5
2.Bc4c6
3.Nf3d5
4.exd5Bg4
5.Qe2Bxf3
6.Qxf3b5
7.dxc6bxc4
8.c7e4
9.Qxe4+Qe7
10.c8=Q#

How the Bishop's Opening: Pawn Mate works

The Bishop's Opening: Pawn Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Bishop's opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd5 Bg4 5.Qe2 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 b5 7.dxc6 bxc4 8.c7 e4 9.Qxe4+ Qe7 10.c8=Q#. 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 (Wall, Bill - Webcrawler, 1997.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the Bishop's Opening: Pawn Mate 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.

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