How often do you lose a chess game after a few moves? Losing a game due to the lack of strategical and tactical knowledge is quite upsetting. Chess professionals use numerous strategies and tricks right from the beginning of the game to secure an easy win. Chess novices and beginners often make mistakes at the offset of the game, which can easily be avoided by learning and using several online chess opening traps.
5 online chess opening traps you should know
As important as it is to use the opening traps, knowing all the traps is equally vital to prevent your opponent from using them on you in an online chess game. These traps involve tactical ideas, concepts, and combinations that give you an upper hand over your opponent, especially if the opponent is a novice. So, before it’s too late, familiarize yourself with several tricks and traps that the experienced players may be using against you.
Noah’s Ark Trap
Noah’s Ark trap is a Ruy Lopez chess opening trap in which the black pawns trap a white bishop on the b3 square. The name comes from the black pawns’ position on a6, b5, and c4 that resembles an ark. Even experienced players occasionally fall for this trap and lose their bishops in the online chess game.
You can use this trap either in the opening moves or later in the game to surround the bishop. Here are the positions of each piece:
b5, Bb3, c4
The black team moves a pawn to b5, followed by the white bishop to b3, and the black team moves a pawn to c4. With these moves, the black pawns trap the white bishop as the bishop cannot move to any square.
To avoid this trap, you need to create a square for the bishop to retreat when the opponent moves his opponent forward. If you are facing this trap, you can move your pawn forward to c3 to create an escape route for the bishop.
Early Rook Push
The Early Rook Push trap is quite common amongst beginners and novices and should be avoided at all costs. As the name suggests, the trap involves pushing the rook out early in the game. In this trap, a player moves a pawn a step ahead and then moves the rook two steps forward at the very beginning of the game.
The moves are 1. h4, a5, 2. Rh3, Ra6, 3. Re3
Since the rooks are powerful, new players tend to use them early in the game. However, being more powerful than the knights and bishops makes the rooks more valuable as well. Therefore, the rooks are prone to attacks from the opponent. A strong opponent will use the bishop’s to put a stop to this move and capture the rooks.
Also Read: The basic chess openings in online chess game
The Rook Trap
During the early stages of the online chess game, you might be relaxed seeing your opponent’s pieces still in bed, and you bing our your bishop. However, you shouldn’t fall prey to this trap and watch your moves while bridging out the bishop.
For instance, you have the white pieces and move your bishop to Bf4, and the black team moves the bishop to Bxb2.
Bf4 Bxb2
With this move, the black bishop traps the white rook and captures it in the next move. This trap is common when the knights and pawns shut the rooks, leaving no square for the rooks to escape from the bishop.
Berlin Defense
The Berlin Defense trap is a variation of Ruy Lopez and begins with the following moves:
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 NF6 4. d3 Ne7 5. Nxe5
The black team moves the Knight to Nf6, leaving its pawn at e5 undefended to set a trap. White moves pawn to d3, and black plays the knight to Ne7. The white knight captures the black pawn at Nxe5. At this point, black has a stronger position even though white may fight and win. The black would move the queen to a5 and capture the white bishop and white knight in the next moves.
Cambridge Springs Trap
The Cambridge Springs Trap is a result of popular sequences of moves from the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The moves are as follows:
- d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. NC3 NF6 4. BG5 Nd7
The black moving to d7 is a flexible yet common move.
At this move, the white pawn captures the black pawn moving to cxd5, followed by the black pawn capturing that white pawn at exd5. The white player then tends to move the knight to Nxd5 and capture the black pawn, taking advantage of the pinned black knight at f6. However, this is a mistake on the white’s part. The black team would capture the white knight at Nxd5. The white bishop captures the black queen at Bxd8, followed by the black knight checkmating on the white king at Bb4. The white the has to block using the queen at d2 ad is captured by the white bishop. The king then seizes the white bishop at d2, but the black king captures the white bishop and wins the piece.
Conclusion
Learning about different online chess opening traps is essential to use them against your opponents and protect yourself from getting trapped. These traps are some of the popular ones that most players use; therefore, it’s important to understand them. Go ahead and practice these moves to ensure your opponent can’t trap you while you may be able to trap them. Hop on to the MPL app and dive into an intense online chess game also known as speed chess, to master these opening traps.
