So, idk if many people on tumblr care about chess much, but I was studying some openings today and I found a very funny trap.
This is for the Ponziani Opening, so you already know some hijinks are going to be afoot, and specifically, this is for the Jaenisch Counterattack. Obviously I can't have pictures for every position, but I'll put them in for the ones that matter.
It goes as follows:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.d4 Nxe4 5.d5 Ne7 6.Nxe5 (pictured below)
Now, if you're a fan of the Ponziani, you know that 6...d6 is a losing move because of the brilliant 7.Bb5+ and the gobbling up of pawns and eventual loss of the knight on e5 by Black. But, what I'm going to show you stems from the slightly better move 6...c6. The idea, in short, is going to be to use the light-squared bishop to defend d5, trade it off for a knight, and then enter a position where you're down material but still have a winning chance.
6...c6 7.Bc4 Nd6 8.O-O Nxc4 9.Nxc4
Now, as you can see, Black has two different attackers on the pawn on d5. If Black plays, 9...Nxd5, then you don't get to do the trap, but you can play
10.Re1+ Be7 11.Nd6+ Kf8 12.c4 Bxd6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Qxd5
and now you have taken away Black's ability to castle, and even though you're down a pawn, you have the open e-file, your bishop has a short diagonal, your knight is ready to leap into action, and Black's kind of just sitting on their hands in terms of development.
But, here's the hysterical part. Remember when I said Black had two things attacking d5 all the way back on turn 9? If they chose to not play 9...Nxd5, then this happens.
9...cxd5?? 10.Nd6#!
Isn't that the silliest thing you've ever seen? The king is about to die surrounded by loved ones and family. You are untouchable and unstoppable. You're about to do an Agent 47 maneuver and assassinate the one guy surrounded by a swarm of body guards. It's beautiful.
