An opening trap is a position in the first few moves where one move looks natural – it grabs a pawn, gives check, attacks a piece or just develops – but loses by force. The opponent has a short, forcing reply that wins the queen, a rook, a piece, or ends the game with checkmate. Traps are dangerous because the bad move passes the quick “does this look good?” test and only fails when you calculate two or three moves deeper.
Every trap on this page starts from one of the 3,865 named openings in the open Lichess opening list (CC0). A program walks every one of those lines and asks Stockfish two questions in each position: does a move look fine at a glance (a very shallow search), and does it lose at least three points or get mated when searched deeply? Only positions where the side to move was not already worse before the mistake are kept. Then each line is checked again at depth 20 before the video is made.
Upload or paste a picture of any chess position on the analysis board. It is read in the browser (never uploaded), opens in the editor for a quick check, and Stockfish analyses it. The video uses Morphy's Opera Game, where the engine finds 16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8#.
Download video See all framesIn the Sicilian Defense: Magnus Smith Trap (B57), after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 g6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5, Black is tempted by dxe5: it grabs a pawn that looks free. It does not work. White replies 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Qxd8 and wins the queen. The safe move is Ng4.
In the King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit (C31), after 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 c6, White is tempted by fxe5: it grabs a pawn that looks free. It does not work. Black replies Qh4+ 5.g3 Qe4+ 6.Qe2 Qxh1 and wins a whole rook. The safe move is Qe2.
In the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Kondratiyev Variation (C15), after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd3 c5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bd2, Black is tempted by Qxg2: it grabs a pawn that looks free. It does not work. White replies 7.Be4 cxd4 8.Bxg2 and wins the queen. The safe move is Bxc3.
In the Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation (D35), after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 h6, White is tempted by Qa4+: it gives check and looks aggressive. It does not work. Black replies Bd7 8.Qb3 hxg5 and wins a piece. The safe move is Bh4.
In the Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit, Modern Variation (C29), after 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 Qh4+ 6.g3 Nxg3 7.Nf3, Black is tempted by Qg4: it kicks the knight and gains time. It does not work. White replies 8.Rg1 Qb4 9.Rxg3 and wins a piece. The safe move is Qh5.
In the Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Siroccopteryx (B06), after 1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 c5 4.Bc4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qa5+, White is tempted by Kf1: it is the simplest way out of check. It does not work. Black replies Qc5 7.Qe2 Bxd4 and wins a piece. The safe move is c3.
In the Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, London Defense (C44), after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bb4+ 5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3, Black is tempted by Be7: it moves the bishop out of danger. It does not work. White replies 7.Qd5 Nh6 8.Bxh6 and wins a piece. The safe move is Ba5.
Each video shows the engine verdict under it: the evaluation before the mistake and after it. A line is only published if the side springing the trap is winning (at least +2.5 or a forced mate) after every move of the punishment, and the final position is checkmate or at least three points of material up. The page also shows the correct move, so you know what to play instead.
Most of these positions do not have a famous trap name of their own. We use the name of the Lichess opening line the position comes from, with its ECO code (for example B57), so you can find the opening in any database.
Every Sunday the page is replaced with 7 new videos that have not been shown before: opening traps when good new ones are found, otherwise well-known openings explained move by move.
Yes. Copy the moves under a video into the analysis board, or play a live game on ChessDada and see whether your opponent falls for it.