Final position — Black delivers mate
Queen's Gambit: Queen Mate
Black wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Unknown - Livingstone, England 1941)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | c4 | e5 |
| 3. | e3 | exd4 |
| 4. | exd4 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Bg5 | Be6 |
| 6. | cxd5 | Bxd5 |
| 7. | Nc3 | Nc6 |
| 8. | Nxd5 | Qxd5 |
| 9. | Bxf6 | Bb4+ |
| 10. | Ke2 | Qe4# |
How the Queen's Gambit: Queen Mate works
The Queen's Gambit: Queen Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's Gambit. In this line Black delivers checkmate on move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from White.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.e3 exd4 4.exd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be6 6.cxd5 Bxd5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Nxd5 Qxd5 9.Bxf6 Bb4+ 10.Ke2 Qe4#. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — White walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Unknown - Livingstone, England 1941). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as Black or sidestep it as White.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Gambit: Queen 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.