Noah’s Ark Trap is not just an opening trap. The name is used for a lot of openings in which the white bishop is trapped on b3 by black pawns. Most of the games that contain this trap can be found in the Ruy Lopez.
As a kind of followup on the lesson about the minor promotion I have added this lesson on the Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit. The underpromotion plays an important role in this trap and probably contributes to the success of it.
The Albin Countergambit starts with the moves 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 after [...]
The Elephant Trap is a famous trap in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. I am not sure why it is called the Elephant Trap, but the name reminds me to an oil painting of Eddie William Powell. The picture above shows a part of this painting. More information about this and other paintings of this artist [...]
The Budapest Defence is a chess opening that starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5. This is one of the rare gambit lines for Black, because almost all of the gambit lines are for White. It is rarely played at grandmaster level, but for the amateur it may be a nice way to immediately [...]
In a smothered mate the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded (or smothered) by his own pieces. Therefor a smothered mate can only be delivered by a knight. We have seen an example of a smothered mate before in the lesson about the Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
This lesson deals with the [...]