Final position — White is winning
Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Fork
White wins in 11 moves with a decisive material gain. (Krejzick - Reti, 1922)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | c4 | Nf6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | e5 |
| 4. | dxe5 | Ng4 |
| 5. | Nf3 | Bb4 |
| 6. | Bd2 | Qe7 |
| 7. | Nxd5 | Bxd2+ |
| 8. | Qxd2 | Qc5 |
| 9. | e3 | O-O |
| 10. | b4 | Qc6 |
| 11. | Ne7+ |
How the Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Fork works
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Fork is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's gambit declined. In this line White wins decisive material by move 11, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 Ng4 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Qe7 7.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 Qc5 9.e3 O-O 10.b4 Qc6 11.Ne7+. 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 (Krejzick - Reti, 1922). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Fork 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.