Final position — White delivers mate
King's Knight Opening: Knight Mate
White wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Kranzle - Krause, 1939.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | f5 |
| 3. | d3 | Nc6 |
| 4. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Bg5 | h6 |
| 6. | Bxf6 | Qxf6 |
| 7. | Nd5 | Qd8 |
| 8. | Nd4 | Ne7 |
| 9. | Nxf5 | c6 |
| 10. | Nd6# |
How the King's Knight Opening: Knight Mate works
The King's Knight Opening: Knight Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's knight opening. 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.Nf3 f5 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.Nd4 Ne7 9.Nxf5 c6 10.Nd6#. 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 (Kranzle - Krause, 1939.??.??). 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 Knight Opening: Knight 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.