Final position — White is winning
Vienna Opening: Knight Fork
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wurzburger - Peifer, Paris 1933)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | f4 | exf4 |
| 4. | e5 | Qe7 |
| 5. | Qe2 | Ng8 |
| 6. | Nf3 | Nc6 |
| 7. | d4 | d6 |
| 8. | Nd5 | Qd8 |
| 9. | Nxc7+ |
How the Vienna Opening: Knight Fork works
The Vienna Opening: Knight Fork is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Vienna Opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.e5 Qe7 5.Qe2 Ng8 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.d4 d6 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.Nxc7+. 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 (Wurzburger - Peifer, Paris 1933). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Vienna Opening: 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.