Final position — White delivers mate
Legal Trap
White wins in 8 moves by checkmate. (Traps - Chess Traps - Legal Trap - C50 - https://lichess.org/@/gambits2pieces)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nc6 |
| 3. | Bc4 | d6 |
| 4. | Nc3 | Bg4 |
| 5. | h3 | Bh5 |
| 6. | Nxe5 | Bxd1 |
| 7. | Bxf7+ | Ke7 |
| 8. | Nd5# |
How the Legal Trap works
The Legal Trap is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Italian Game. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.Nxe5 Bxd1 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Nd5#. 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 (Traps - Chess Traps - Legal Trap - C50 - https://lichess.org/@/gambits2pieces). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Legal 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.