All chess openings

Tactical chess openings

Sharp lines where concrete calculation decides the game inside the first fifteen moves. Forks, pins and sacrifices are part of the main line rather than a punishment for bad play: accurate moves are rewarded, and inaccurate ones lose on the spot.

11 openings

• Légal Trap (C41) — Hang the queen on purpose and mate with three minor pieces
• Fried Liver Attack (C57) — Sacrifice a knight on f7 and march the black king up the board
• Blackburne Shilling Gambit (C50) — Offer a free pawn and mate on move seven when White takes it
• Elephant Trap (D51) — The d7-knight looks pinned. It isn't, and White loses a piece finding out.
• Lasker Trap (D08) — An underpromotion to a knight — on move seven
• Noah's Ark Trap (C71) — Three pawns walk forward and the Spanish bishop simply never gets out
• Englund Gambit Trap (A40) — Throw a pawn away on move one and mate on c1 eight moves later
• Fishing Pole Trap (C65) — Dangle a knight on g4 and open the h-file when White bites
• Siberian Trap (B21) — Accept the Smith-Morra, ignore the attacked knight, and mate on h2
• Magnus Smith Trap (B57) — The Dragon fianchetto is one move too early and the queen falls
• Scholar's Mate (C20) — The four-move mate — worth knowing so it never happens to you