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Final position — White is winning

Queen's pawn

Queen's Pawn: Knight Fork

White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Bouttier - Charrier, 1792.??.??)

The moves

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Qd5 h6 5.Nc3 g5 6.Nb5 Qd8 7.Bd2 Nge7 8.Qd6 Bg7 9.Nxc7+ Kf8 10.Nxa8
1.d4e5
2.dxe5Nc6
3.Nf3Qe7
4.Qd5h6
5.Nc3g5
6.Nb5Qd8
7.Bd2Nge7
8.Qd6Bg7
9.Nxc7+Kf8
10.Nxa8

How the Queen's Pawn: Knight Fork works

The Queen's Pawn: Knight Fork is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Qd5 h6 5.Nc3 g5 6.Nb5 Qd8 7.Bd2 Nge7 8.Qd6 Bg7 9.Nxc7+ Kf8 10.Nxa8. 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 (Bouttier - Charrier, 1792.??.??). 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: Knight Fork 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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