Chess Traps- Mortimer Trap

The Mortimer Trap comes from the berlin chess defense when white responds with d3. This is not the most common move in the berlin defense for white but many players still prefer this over the common 0-0 (castling) for white. After d3, black gives up a pawn on e5 as a trap and looks to regain more material by taking either the bishop or the knight a few moves later.

http://www.thechesswebsite.com

Chess Software used in the video can be found at http://www.chesscentral.com and http://www.chessok.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• chess
• mortimer trap
• traps
• openings
• strategy
• learn chess

[sonylopez131]

i thought king was supposed to be on left side where da queen is?

[thechesswebsite]

we are looking from black's point of view so it just looks different.

[TheW0rldEndsWithMe]

won't white be suspicious of the free pawn offer?

[thechesswebsite]

he might, hopefully not

[DAAbercrombie]

Just out of curiosity, what is the average USCF, or FIDE rating of the people at the chess website?

[thechesswebsite]

1850

[iliginjaili]

Its not a rare opportunity...ruy lopez is one of the most popular openings...

[mackinnon555]

rare opportunity. but decent trap

[sagarsmok]

Like this 1 t00 much.......

[GhostCalib3r]

@CoMMoN13371337 uhh no lol Nxd6 then queen takes.

LOL you suck at chess :P

[daemonowner]

@ibanezart320 they are... or is that your point?

[ibanezart320]

dude queens r supposed to be on own colors

[CoMMoN13371337]

wait i can't believe i missed Qxd6 after Nxd6 check haha must've been very tired :D it works fine, but in order to work your opponent must make the mistake :)

[CoMMoN13371337]

take a look at 2:40. white is up a pawn in this position, he can play Nxd6 check, winning another pawn, king comes to d7 (only move) then Nxb5 (another pawn won, which makes a total of 3 pawns won) cxb5 (knight lost) Bxb5 (4 pawns won total) + check and white is down a knight and black is down 4 pawns. which is bad. also black cant castle anymore and his king isnt exactly in a good position. so i strongly suggest you re-evaluate this against stronger opponents.

this isn't good.

[669881]

I agree with @Exkaliki10.. I think it's much better and more aggressive.. Although the winning material is only just about a pawn, after 1.exd5 cxb5, Black still has a good position to attack by putting his Knight to f5.. :)

[Tomi852]

@TheW0rldEndsWithMe

These traps and gambits are most useful when playing blitz or even bullet games where you see material and you just take it.