Final position — White delivers mate
Legal mate
White wins in 7 moves by checkmate. (Traps - Legal mate - C41 - https://lichess.org/@/MaxMalkov)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | Bc4 | Bg4 |
| 4. | Nc3 | f6 |
| 5. | Nxe5 | Bxd1 |
| 6. | Bf7+ | Ke7 |
| 7. | Nd5# |
How the Legal mate works
The Legal mate is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 f6 5.Nxe5 Bxd1 6.Bf7+ Ke7 7.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 - Legal mate - C41 - https://lichess.org/@/MaxMalkov). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Legal 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.