Final position — White delivers mate
Alekhine's Defence: Back-Rank Mate (Wawryk–Martel)
White wins in 9 moves by checkmate. (Wawryk - Martel, Internet 1996)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | e5 | Nd5 |
| 3. | d4 | Nc6 |
| 4. | Nf3 | f6 |
| 5. | exf6 | gxf6 |
| 6. | c4 | Nb6 |
| 7. | d5 | Ne5 |
| 8. | Nxe5 | fxe5 |
| 9. | Qh5# |
How the Alekhine's Defence: Back-Rank Mate (Wawryk–Martel) works
The Alekhine's Defence: Back-Rank Mate (Wawryk–Martel) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Alekhine's defence. In this line White delivers checkmate on move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 Nc6 4.Nf3 f6 5.exf6 gxf6 6.c4 Nb6 7.d5 Ne5 8.Nxe5 fxe5 9.Qh5#. 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 (Wawryk - Martel, Internet 1996). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Alekhine's Defence: Back-Rank Mate (Wawryk–Martel) 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.