Final position — White delivers mate
Queen's Pawn Game: Back-Rank Mate
White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Wall - DieHappy, Internet 1996)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | e4 | dxe4 |
| 3. | Nc3 | f5 |
| 4. | f3 | Nc6 |
| 5. | Bb5 | exf3 |
| 6. | Nxf3 | Nh6 |
| 7. | Bxh6 | gxh6 |
| 8. | Ne5 | a6 |
| 9. | Qh5# |
How the Queen's Pawn Game: Back-Rank Mate works
The Queen's Pawn Game: Back-Rank Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn game. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 f5 4.f3 Nc6 5.Bb5 exf3 6.Nxf3 Nh6 7.Bxh6 gxh6 8.Ne5 a6 9.Qh5#. 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 - DieHappy, Internet 1996). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Pawn Game: Back-Rank 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.