Final position — White is winning
Philidor's Defence: Opening Trap (Ribeiro–Skinner)
White wins in 6 moves with a decisive material gain. (Ribeiro - Skinner, Internet 1995)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | Nd7 |
| 4. | Bc4 | c6 |
| 5. | c3 | Be7 |
| 6. | Qb3 |
How the Philidor's Defence: Opening Trap (Ribeiro–Skinner) works
The Philidor's Defence: Opening Trap (Ribeiro–Skinner) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 6, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 c6 5.c3 Be7 6.Qb3. 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 (Ribeiro - Skinner, Internet 1995). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Philidor's Defence: Opening Trap (Ribeiro–Skinner) 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.