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Final position — White delivers mate

Two Knights Defence

Fried Liver checkmate trap!

White wins in 10 moves by checkmate. (Check mate traps - Fried Liver checkmate trap! - C57 - https://lichess.org/@/Imron28)

The moves

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Kg8 8.Bxd5+ Qxd5 9.Qxd5+ Be6 10.Qxe6#
1.e4e5
2.Nf3Nc6
3.Bc4Nf6
4.Ng5d5
5.exd5Nxd5
6.Nxf7Kxf7
7.Qf3+Kg8
8.Bxd5+Qxd5
9.Qxd5+Be6
10.Qxe6#

How the Fried Liver checkmate trap! works

The Fried Liver checkmate trap! is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Two Knights Defence. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Kg8 8.Bxd5+ Qxd5 9.Qxd5+ Be6 10.Qxe6#. 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 (Check mate traps - Fried Liver checkmate trap! - C57 - https://lichess.org/@/Imron28). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the Fried Liver checkmate trap! 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.

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