Final position — White delivers mate
King's Knight Opening: Back-Rank Mate
White wins in 6 moves by checkmate. (Hindley - Ramsey, 1963)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d5 |
| 3. | Nxe5 | Bd6 |
| 4. | d4 | f6 |
| 5. | Qh5+ | Kf8 |
| 6. | Qf7# |
How the King's Knight Opening: Back-Rank Mate works
The King's Knight Opening: Back-Rank Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's knight opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 6, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nxe5 Bd6 4.d4 f6 5.Qh5+ Kf8 6.Qf7#. 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 (Hindley - Ramsey, 1963). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the King's Knight Opening: Back-Rank 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.