The Kieninger Trap

The game, move by move

The Budapest

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… Nf6 The knight out
3. 2. c4 The second pawn
4. 2… e5 e5, offered The Budapest Gambit. Black gives up a centre pawn on move two and spends the next six moves getting it back with pieces.
5. 3. dxe5 Taken
6. 3… Ng4 The knight goes after it Ng4 attacks e5 and asks the question the whole opening is built on: who is going to defend that pawn, and with what?

Both knights at the pawn

1. 4. Bf4 The bishop defends
2. 4… Nc6 The second attacker Two black knights on the pawn against one white bishop behind it. Black is not playing to be a pawn up; he is playing to have every piece out by move seven.
3. 5. Nf3 Developing, and holding
4. 5… Bb4+ Check, from b4 A developing move that is also a check, so White cannot spend this move on the pawn.
5. 6. Nbd2 Blocked with the knight Nbd2 interposes and adds a third defender to e5. It also puts a knight on d2 — where, at the end, it is one of the five men sealing its own king in.
6. 6… Qe7 The queen behind the pawn Qe7 looks like another attacker on e5. Its real job is the e-file: from here the queen is aimed at White’s king through White’s pawn on e2, and that pawn is pinned for the rest of the game.

A bishop for a mate

1. 7. a3 Asking about the bishop a3 attacks the bishop on b4 and wins it next move. It is also the last move White gets.
2. 7… Ngxe5 The pawn, taken back The knight from g4 takes it rather than the queen, so that a knight rather than a queen is the piece standing on e5 — and from e5 a knight reaches d3.
3. 8. axb4 The bishop, won axb4 is a whole piece, and it is the move that loses. Nothing on the board looks like a threat: White’s king is on his starting square with five of his own men around him.
4. 8… Nd3# Checkmate, on d3 The knight arrives and the king is smothered where he sits. f1 is his bishop, d1 his queen, d2 his knight, e2 and f2 his pawns — and the pawn on e2, the one piece that could take the knight, is pinned by the black queen on e7. Eight moves, and White is a piece up.