Final position — Black delivers mate
Queen's Pawn: Back-Rank Mate
Black wins in 11 moves by checkmate. (Roughman - Gedult, 1968.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | e5 |
| 2. | dxe5 | Nc6 |
| 3. | Nf3 | f6 |
| 4. | Bf4 | fxe5 |
| 5. | Nxe5 | Qf6 |
| 6. | Nxc6 | dxc6 |
| 7. | Bc1 | Bg4 |
| 8. | h3 | Rd8 |
| 9. | Nd2 | Bc5 |
| 10. | f3 | Qh4+ |
| 11. | g3 | Qxg3# |
How the Queen's Pawn: Back-Rank Mate works
The Queen's Pawn: Back-Rank Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn. In this line Black delivers checkmate on move 11, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from White.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 f6 4.Bf4 fxe5 5.Nxe5 Qf6 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.Bc1 Bg4 8.h3 Rd8 9.Nd2 Bc5 10.f3 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qxg3#. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — White walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Roughman - Gedult, 1968.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as Black or sidestep it as White.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Pawn: 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.