Final position — White is winning
Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice (Ribeiro–Skinner)
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Ribeiro - Skinner, 1995.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | Nd7 |
| 4. | Bc4 | c6 |
| 5. | c3 | Be7 |
| 6. | Qb3 | Nh6 |
| 7. | Bxh6 | gxh6 |
| 8. | Bxf7+ |
How the Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice (Ribeiro–Skinner) works
The Philidor's Defence: Bxf7 Sacrifice (Ribeiro–Skinner) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 c6 5.c3 Be7 6.Qb3 Nh6 7.Bxh6 gxh6 8.Bxf7+. 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 (Ribeiro - Skinner, 1995.??.??). 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 (Ribeiro–Skinner) 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.