Final position — White delivers mate
King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice & Mate
White wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Wall - Soltz, Texas 1995)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | exf4 |
| 3. | Nf3 | g5 |
| 4. | h4 | g4 |
| 5. | Ng5 | h6 |
| 6. | Nxf7 | Kxf7 |
| 7. | Bc4+ | Ke8 |
| 8. | Qxg4 | d6 |
| 9. | Qg6+ | Ke7 |
| 10. | Qf7# |
How the King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice & Mate works
The King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice & Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. 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.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Bc4+ Ke8 8.Qxg4 d6 9.Qg6+ Ke7 10.Qf7#. 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 - Soltz, Texas 1995). 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: Nxf7 Sacrifice & 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.