Final position — White is winning
Queen's Gambit: Knight Fork
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Kupel - Herrman, Germany 1970)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | c4 | Bf5 |
| 3. | Nc3 | e6 |
| 4. | Qb3 | Nc6 |
| 5. | cxd5 | exd5 |
| 6. | Nxd5 | Be4 |
| 7. | Nc3 | Nxd4 |
| 8. | Qa4+ | b5 |
| 9. | Nxb5 | Nc2+ |
How the Queen's Gambit: Knight Fork works
The Queen's Gambit: Knight Fork is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's Gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5 3.Nc3 e6 4.Qb3 Nc6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nxd5 Be4 7.Nc3 Nxd4 8.Qa4+ b5 9.Nxb5 Nc2+. 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 (Kupel - Herrman, Germany 1970). 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: Knight Fork 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.