Final position — White delivers mate
King's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Leray–De Castet)
White wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Leray - De Castet, Paris 1989)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | f5 |
| 3. | exf5 | e4 |
| 4. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 5. | fxg6 | Nf6 |
| 6. | Qe5+ | Be7 |
| 7. | d3 | Nc6 |
| 8. | Qg5 | h6 |
| 9. | g7 | Rg8 |
| 10. | Qg6# |
How the King's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Leray–De Castet) works
The King's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Leray–De Castet) 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 f5 3.exf5 e4 4.Qh5+ g6 5.fxg6 Nf6 6.Qe5+ Be7 7.d3 Nc6 8.Qg5 h6 9.g7 Rg8 10.Qg6#. 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 (Leray - De Castet, Paris 1989). 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: Back-Rank Mate (Leray–De Castet) 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.