Final position — White delivers mate
Queen's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Katsampes–Robinson)
White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Katsampes - Robinson, San Antonio 1993)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | c4 | e5 |
| 3. | dxe5 | dxc4 |
| 4. | Qxd8+ | Kxd8 |
| 5. | Nc3 | Bb4 |
| 6. | Bd2 | Nc6 |
| 7. | O-O-O | Nxe5 |
| 8. | Bg5+ | Ke8 |
| 9. | Rd8# |
How the Queen's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Katsampes–Robinson) works
The Queen's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Katsampes–Robinson) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's Gambit. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 dxc4 4.Qxd8+ Kxd8 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Nc6 7.O-O-O Nxe5 8.Bg5+ Ke8 9.Rd8#. 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 (Katsampes - Robinson, San Antonio 1993). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Gambit: Back-Rank Mate (Katsampes–Robinson) 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.