Hopton Attack Trap
Black chases your bishop with three pawns and traps it. Taking it is checkmate in one.
74%of players rated around 800 push the f pawn at the bishop here
Your opponent's Chess.com rating
Playing Black against it? Defend against it
Good to know
- Opening
- Dutch Defence
- You play
- White
- The trap is set on
- Move 4
- What you win
- Checkmate
- If they do not bite
- A good game anyway
- Games counted
- 83,120 on Lichess
How to defend against the Hopton Attack Trap
Bring your knight out. 17% of players rated around 800 stop chasing. The knight guards h5, so the queen cannot come in.
No mate, but White is a little better.
The way out, move by move, as BlackHopton Attack Trap moves
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.Bg3 f4 5.e3 fxg3 6.Qh5#
- 1.d4Push your queen's pawn
A solid first move.
- 1…f5Black pushes the f pawn
This is the Dutch Defence. The pawn has left the king's side a little open.
- 2.Bg5Bring your bishop out to g5
This is the Hopton Attack. The bishop invites the pawns to chase it.
- 2…h6A pawn attacks your bishop
Step back one square.
- 3.Bh4Step the bishop back
It stays on the same line.
- 3…g5A second pawn attacks the bishop
Step back again.
- 4.Bg3Step the bishop back again
The pawns keep coming. You want the f pawn to attack the bishop too.
- 4…f4The f pawn traps your bishop
74% of players rated around 800 push it. The bishop is trapped, and so is the black king.
- 5.e3Push your e pawn one square
You ignore the bishop. Your queen can now reach h5, and that is mate.
- 5…fxg3The pawn takes your bishop
80% of them take the bishop.
- 6.Qh5#Slide your queen to h5
Checkmate. The pawns that chased your bishop left the king no cover.
Checkmate.
See it one move at a timeHopton Attack Trap questions
What if they do not fall for the Hopton Attack Trap?
26% of players rated around 800 play something else. Then a good game anyway.
How do you defend against the Hopton Attack Trap?
As Black, bring your knight out. 17% of players rated around 800 stop chasing. The knight guards h5, so the queen cannot come in. No mate, but White is a little better.
What do you win with the Hopton Attack Trap?
Checkmate. In the main line, checkmate.
At what rating does the Hopton Attack Trap work?
It works best against players around 1100, where 75% push the f pawn at the bishop. Against players at 2100 and up, 8% do.
More traps
All opening trapsCounted from the rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess that reached this position. Ratings are shown as Chess.com ratings: the games are grouped by Lichess rating, which runs higher, and each group is named by the Chess.com rating it comes to in ChessGoals' comparison of players with an account on both. A rating with fewer than 300 such games shows no number.