Final position — White is winning
King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice
White wins in 11 moves with a decisive material gain. (Etlinger - Janowski, 1898.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | d5 |
| 3. | Nf3 | Bc5 |
| 4. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Nxe5 | dxe4 |
| 6. | Qe2 | Nc6 |
| 7. | Nxf7 | Qe7 |
| 8. | Nxh8 | Nd4 |
| 9. | Qd1 | Nf3+ |
| 10. | Ke2 | Bg4 |
| 11. | h3 | Nd5 |
How the King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice works
The King's Gambit: Nxf7 Sacrifice is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 11, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nxe5 dxe4 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.Nxf7 Qe7 8.Nxh8 Nd4 9.Qd1 Nf3+ 10.Ke2 Bg4 11.h3 Nd5. 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 (Etlinger - Janowski, 1898.??.??). 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 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.