Final position — White delivers mate
Reti Opening: Smothered Mate
White wins in 7 moves by checkmate. (Schroder - Blake, 1912.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | Nf3 | d5 |
| 2. | e4 | dxe4 |
| 3. | Ng5 | Nf6 |
| 4. | Nc3 | Bf5 |
| 5. | Qe2 | c6 |
| 6. | Ngxe4 | Nbd7 |
| 7. | Nd6# |
How the Reti Opening: Smothered Mate works
The Reti Opening: Smothered Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Reti Opening. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Ng5 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.Qe2 c6 6.Ngxe4 Nbd7 7.Nd6#. 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 (Schroder - Blake, 1912.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Reti Opening: Smothered 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.