Final position — White delivers mate
Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice & Mate (Hartlaub–Worch)
White wins in 8 moves by checkmate. (Hartlaub - Worch, Bremen 1890)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | Bc4 | Bg4 |
| 4. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 5. | O-O | Nxe4 |
| 6. | Nxe5 | Bxd1 |
| 7. | Bxf7+ | Ke7 |
| 8. | Nd5# |
How the Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice & Mate (Hartlaub–Worch) works
The Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice & Mate (Hartlaub–Worch) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Nxe5 Bxd1 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Nd5#. 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 (Hartlaub - Worch, Bremen 1890). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice & Mate (Hartlaub–Worch) 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.