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Final position — White delivers mate

King's pawn opening

King's Pawn Opening: Bxg2 Sacrifice & Mate

White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Greco - NN, 1620.??.??)

The moves

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 f5 4.exf5 Bxg2 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Nf3 Bxh1 7.fxg6 Nf6 8.gxh7+ Nxh5 9.Bg6#
1.e4b6
2.d4Bb7
3.Bd3f5
4.exf5Bxg2
5.Qh5+g6
6.Nf3Bxh1
7.fxg6Nf6
8.gxh7+Nxh5
9.Bg6#

How the King's Pawn Opening: Bxg2 Sacrifice & Mate works

The King's Pawn Opening: Bxg2 Sacrifice & Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's pawn opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, 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.Nf3 Bxh1 7.fxg6 Nf6 8.gxh7+ Nxh5 9.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 - NN, 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 Pawn Opening: Bxg2 Sacrifice & 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.

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