Final position — White is winning
King's Knight Opening: Knight Fork
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (NN - Greco, 1620.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | f5 |
| 3. | Nxe5 | Qe7 |
| 4. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 5. | Nxg6 | Qxe4+ |
| 6. | Kd1 | Nf6 |
| 7. | Qh3 | hxg6 |
| 8. | Qxh8 | Ng4 |
| 9. | Qh4 | Ne3+ |
How the King's Knight Opening: Knight Fork works
The King's Knight Opening: Knight Fork is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's knight opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Nxg6 Qxe4+ 6.Kd1 Nf6 7.Qh3 hxg6 8.Qxh8 Ng4 9.Qh4 Ne3+. 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 (NN - 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 King's Knight Opening: Knight Fork 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.