Final position — White is winning
Take my knight, but I'll take your rook...
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Stafford Gambit Traps - Take my knight, but I'll take your rook... - C42 - https://lichess.org/@/nhatduy)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | Nxe5 | Nc6 |
| 4. | Nxc6 | dxc6 |
| 5. | e5 | Ne4 |
| 6. | d4 | Qh4 |
| 7. | g3 | Nxg3 |
| 8. | fxg3 | Qe4+ |
How the Take my knight, but I'll take your rook... works
The Take my knight, but I'll take your rook... is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Petrov's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.e5 Ne4 6.d4 Qh4 7.g3 Nxg3 8.fxg3 Qe4+. 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 (Stafford Gambit Traps - Take my knight, but I'll take your rook... - C42 - https://lichess.org/@/nhatduy). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Take my knight, but I'll take your rook... 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.