Final position — White delivers mate
French Defence: Knight Mate
White wins in 8 moves by checkmate. (Vujosevic - Bozilov, 2003.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e6 |
| 2. | c4 | c5 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Nc6 |
| 4. | f4 | Nge7 |
| 5. | Nf3 | g6 |
| 6. | e5 | d6 |
| 7. | Ne4 | dxe5 |
| 8. | Nf6# |
How the French Defence: Knight Mate works
The French Defence: Knight Mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the French Defence. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.f4 Nge7 5.Nf3 g6 6.e5 d6 7.Ne4 dxe5 8.Nf6#. 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 (Vujosevic - Bozilov, 2003.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the French Defence: Knight 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.