The Englund Gambit Trap

The game, move by move

A pawn, offered

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… e5 e5, offered The Englund Gambit: a pawn given up on move one for open lines, on the side of the board where White has not developed anything yet.
3. 2. dxe5 Taken
4. 2… Nc6 Hitting the pawn
5. 3. Nf3 Defending it
6. 3… Qe7 The queen, to e7 She attacks e5 a second time from behind her own knight. It is also the first step of a route: e7, b4, b2, c1.

The queen goes hunting

1. 4. Bf4 The bishop holds e5
2. 4… Qb4+ Check, and a fork Qb4+ hits the king and b2 at the same time. White has to answer the check, and every way of answering it leaves the pawn.
3. 5. Bd2 Blocked with the bishop The bishop comes back to interpose, which puts it on the diagonal it is going to die on.
4. 5… Qxb2 The pawn on b2 And the corner with it: from b2 the queen looks down the long diagonal at a1, and along the rank at c1.

Everything traded off c1

1. 6. Bc3 The bishop steps to c3 The losing move, and it is the one that looks active — it blocks the diagonal and attacks the queen. But c3 is a square Black can hand a bishop for, and the trade drags White’s queen onto it.
2. 6… Bb4 Offering the trade Bb4 develops and threatens to take on c3. There is no comfortable way left to hold that square.
3. 7. Qd2 Defending with the queen The last quiet move of the game. The white queen leaves d1, and d1 is now guarded by nothing.
4. 7… Bxc3 The bishop takes
5. 8. Qxc3 Recaptured The queen who came to defend c3 is now standing on it, three squares from the corner she was defending.
6. 8… Qc1# Checkmate, on c1 The queen drops onto the square White’s bishop left on move six. d1 and d2 are hers; e2, f2 and f1 are White’s own men; the rook on a1 cannot come along the rank because the knight on b1 has never moved, and the queen on c3 cannot come back because White’s own pawn stands on c2.