Légal's Mate
You leave your queen to be taken. If Black takes her, a bishop and two knights give checkmate.
54%of players rated around 800 take the queen here
Your opponent's Chess.com rating
Playing Black against it? Defend against it
Good to know
- Opening
- Philidor Defence
- You play
- White
- The trap is set on
- Move 5
- What you win
- Checkmate in two moves
- If they do not bite
- You come out a pawn up
- Games counted
- 70,140 on Lichess
How to defend against the Légal's Mate
Take the knight with your pawn. 43% of players rated around 800 find it. The queen is bait: your bishop on g4 is left loose instead.
A pawn down, but no mate.
The way out, move by move, as BlackLégal's Mate moves
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 h6 5.Nxe5 Bxd1 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#
- 1.e4Push your king's pawn
The usual first move.
- 1…e5Black pushes the king's pawn too
Black meets you in the centre.
- 2.Nf3Bring your knight out
The knight attacks Black's pawn on e5.
- 2…d6Black defends with the d pawn
This is the Philidor Defence.
- 3.Bc4Bring your bishop out to c4
The bishop points at f7, the weak square beside Black's king.
- 3…Bg4Black pins your knight
If the knight on f3 moves, the bishop can take your queen.
- 4.Nc3Bring your other knight out
Keep getting pieces out. This knight gives the mate later.
- 4…h6Black pushes a pawn on the side
The trap needs one slow move like this. Now spring it.
- 5.Nxe5Take the pawn with your knight
Your knight leaves the queen to be taken. You want the bishop to take her.
- 5…Bxd1The bishop takes your queen
54% of players rated around 800 take her. It is checkmate in two moves.
- 6.Bxf7+Take on f7 with check
The king has one square to go to. Your knight guards the bishop.
- 6…Ke7The king steps up
Every other square is blocked by Black's own pieces.
- 7.Nd5#Jump the knight in for checkmate
Two knights and a bishop give mate, a whole queen down.
Checkmate.
See it one move at a timeLégal's Mate questions
What if they do not fall for the Légal's Mate?
46% of players rated around 800 play something else. Then you come out a pawn up.
How do you defend against the Légal's Mate?
As Black, take the knight with your pawn. 43% of players rated around 800 find it. The queen is bait: your bishop on g4 is left loose instead. A pawn down, but no mate.
What do you win with the Légal's Mate?
Checkmate in two moves. In the main line, checkmate.
At what rating does the Légal's Mate work?
It works best against players around 800, where 54% take the queen. Against players around 1400, 51% 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.