Final position — White delivers mate
Owen's Defense Trap
White wins in 8 moves by checkmate. (Greco, 1620)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | b6 |
| 2. | d4 | Bb7 |
| 3. | Bd3 | f5 |
| 4. | exf5 | Bxg2 |
| 5. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 6. | fxg6 | Nf6 |
| 7. | gxh7+ | Nxh5 |
| 8. | Bg6# |
How the Owen's Defense Trap works
The Owen's Defense Trap is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's pawn opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 f5 4.exf5 Bxg2 5.Qh5+ g6 6.fxg6 Nf6 7.gxh7+ Nxh5 8.Bg6#. 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 (Greco, 1620). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Owen's Defense Trap 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.