Bs”d

On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 1:22:16 AM UTC+3, William Hyde wrote:
> On Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 7:32:36 PM UTC-4, Eli Kesef wrote:
> > Bs"d
> >
> > So I slaughtered hundreds of people with the Englund gambit. It is just that lately it seems that nobody is falling for it. And the Englund is one trap that if the enemy doesn't fall for it, you end up with a rotten position.
> > So I thought, let's switch to the Budapest gambit for a while, and see what happens. It has a handful of traps in it, and you don't end up with a rotten position if the enemy doesn't fall for it. Like the Englund, you can only play it if the enemy starts out with d4, and cooperates to get the Budapest on the board.
> > So I gave it a try. And lo and behold, the first try was a great success. No mate within 10 moves, but the opponent had to give up his queen for a horse and a bishop. On move 8. https://lichess.org/M7g5N4zgxk3e
> A fun little trap.
>
> Have you considered the Albin counter gambit? It's very, very tricky. I don't know if today it is regarded as absolutely satisfactory, but it was played by the likes of Lasker, so it can't be too bad. It may not be quite as sound as the Budapest, but is, I think, a bit trappier. And far sounder than the Englund.

Bs"d

The Albin counter gambit was one of the first traps I learned, about 35 years ago. I tried it several times, both on the club and online, but I never was able to catch anybody with it, so I quit playing it. Also, the Englund became my favoured reply to d5. And it did have some succes on the club with the Budapest gambit, so I never actually caught somebody with the Albin counter gambit trap.
>
> I can say from experience that even a 2000 player facing someone booked up in it has his work cut out for him.
>
> On the white side, have you considered the Blackmar-Diemer? It's not considered to be utterly sound but it has its devotees and there is quite a bit of literature on it. I had a strong friend, who, as black, always transposed to the QGD so as to deny anyone the chance to play the BD against him.

I always start with e4, because I hate closed positions. But I once learned the Halosar trap, and for that you have to start with the Blackmar-Diemer.. I tried it once against a Russian in the park, and the result was spectacular. I played that game over in Lichess. Was not so hard, because it was only 10 moves, and a game like that you just don't forget. I uploaded it into my imported games, you can see it here: https://lichess.org/ioWa92Bk#15
I think it is a VERY good trap, because almost all the moves of the enemy are so obvious and good looking for him. After I give him the pawn on e4, I start attacking his pawn on e4 with Nc3. Then of course he protects it with Nf6. Very logical move. Then I play f3, and that is a golden opportunity for the enemy to get rid of that almost indefensible double pawn, so of course he will do exf3. Then I do a weird thing, I take with the queen in stead of with the horse on g1. That looks weird, the opponent thinks I don't know what I'm doing, because he can take yet another pawn on d4 with his queen, and as the saying goes: "Pawns they will devour always!". So he took the pawn with his queen. Then I attack his queen with Be3, and his queen has to move. And the place where you want him, on b4, looks very good to the enemy, because then he is yet again attacking something. So I do the long castling. (not the long rooking) And by doing that I give him the opportunity to skewer my queen and castle. That is simple to see, and who would not want to do that? They think my queen has to move, and they pick up my castle, and have good profit. Considering my play so far they just think I'm a rotten player, and they happily skewer me. And the move I play then, Nb5, must be a horrible shock for them. I sacrifice my queen, and go for a walk with my horse.
It is easy enough to see that taking the queen would lead to an immediate mate, so that Russian played Na6, to prevent the horse mating him on c7. Then my queen smacks in on b7 attacking the castle and the horse. Then he played castle to b8, trying to chase away my queen with his castle, realizing I could take his horse, but thinking that he then could take my horse on b4, and getting rid of the mate threat. However, what he overlooked was that I could again sacrifice my queen, that is two queen sacrifices in a game of ten moves, :D because if he takes the queen with the horse, the mate with my horse on c7 is back on the table. And since there were no other options to stop the check, and mate in one is unavoidable, he resigned.
A kiebitzing Russian said: “Don’t give up, you can take the queen with your horse!” but my enemy pointed out that that would lead to mate in one, then the kiebitzer said: “Very good! Very good!”

Games like that you don’t forget.

And that even though I didn’t play any chess. Just played over the moves that I learned by heart.

Opening traps are an enormous amount of fun!

Maybe I should try that Halosar more often.

https://tinyurl.com/trappish