Final position — White delivers mate
King's Gambit: Queen Mate
White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Wall - Greenwalt, Dayton 1983)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | exf4 |
| 3. | Nf3 | g5 |
| 4. | Bc4 | f6 |
| 5. | Nxg5 | fxg5 |
| 6. | Qh5+ | Ke7 |
| 7. | Qxg5+ | Ke8 |
| 8. | Qh5+ | Ke7 |
| 9. | Qe5# |
How the King's Gambit: Queen Mate works
The King's Gambit: Queen Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 f6 5.Nxg5 fxg5 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Qxg5+ Ke8 8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Qe5#. 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 - Greenwalt, Dayton 1983). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the King's Gambit: Queen 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.