Stafford Gambit Trap
White pins your knight with a bishop. The knight moves anyway, and taking your queen walks into checkmate.
18%of players rated around 800 pin the knight here
Your opponent's Chess.com rating
Playing White against it? Defend against it
Good to know
- Opening
- Petrov Defence
- You play
- Black
- The trap is set on
- Move 5
- What you win
- Checkmate, or the queen
- If they do not bite
- You stay a pawn down
- Games counted
- 3.4 million on Lichess
How to defend against the Stafford Gambit Trap
Bring your bishop out to e2. 29% of players rated around 800 find the safe move. The bishop guards g4 and f3, and nothing is pinned.
A pawn up, game on.
The way out, move by move, as WhiteStafford Gambit Trap moves
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bc5 6.Bg5 Nxe4 7.Bxd8 Bxf2+ 8.Ke2 Bg4#
- 1.e4White pushes the king's pawn
Most games start this way.
- 1…e5Push your king's pawn too
Meet White in the centre.
- 2.Nf3White's knight comes out
The knight attacks your pawn on e5.
- 2…Nf6Bring your king's knight out
This is the Petrov Defence. You attack White's pawn instead of guarding yours.
- 3.Nxe5The knight takes your pawn
White is a pawn up for now.
- 3…Nc6Bring your other knight out
This is the Stafford Gambit. You offer a knight trade that opens lines for your pieces.
- 4.Nxc6White trades knights
Take back with the pawn in front of your queen.
- 4…dxc6Take back with your d pawn
Your queen and bishop now have open lines.
- 5.d3White guards the e pawn
A natural move.
- 5…Bc5Bring your bishop out to c5
Your bishop aims at f2. You want White's bishop to pin your knight.
- 6.Bg5The bishop pins your knight
18% of players rated around 800 play this. It looks strong, and it loses.
- 6…Nxe4Take the pawn with your knight
The knight moves anyway and leaves your queen to be taken.
- 7.Bxd8The bishop takes your queen
71% of them take her. It is checkmate in two moves.
- 7…Bxf2+Take on f2 with check
The king has one square to go to.
- 8.Ke2The king steps up
One more check ends the game.
- 8…Bg4#Bring your other bishop out for checkmate
Two bishops and a knight give mate, a whole queen down.
Checkmate.
See it one move at a timeStafford Gambit Trap questions
What if they do not fall for the Stafford Gambit Trap?
83% of players rated around 800 play something else. Then you stay a pawn down.
How do you defend against the Stafford Gambit Trap?
As White, bring your bishop out to e2. 29% of players rated around 800 find the safe move. The bishop guards g4 and f3, and nothing is pinned. A pawn up, game on.
What do you win with the Stafford Gambit Trap?
Checkmate, or the queen. In the main line, checkmate.
At what rating does the Stafford Gambit Trap work?
It works best against players under 400, where 22% pin the knight. Against players at 2100 and up, <1% 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.