The Englund Gambit trap: the two moves White must find

The Englund Gambit, 1.d4 e5, gives up a pawn on move one to set traps. Played carefully, White keeps the pawn and the better game. But White has to find two accurate moves in a row, and in fast online games plenty of players don't.

The line

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+. The same check comes after 4.Bg5. Black's queen gives check and attacks two things at once: the bishop on f4 and the pawn on b2.

First moment: 5.Bd2

5.Bd2 is the move. The bishop steps out of the attack and blocks the check at the same time. 5.Nc3 also holds.

The natural alternatives lose material:

• 5.Qd2?? Qxb2, and the queen heads for the rook: 6.c3 Qxa1 wins a rook.
• 5.Nbd2?? or 5.c3?? Qxf4. Blocking with another piece leaves the bishop on f4 to be taken.

Second moment: 6.Nc3

After 5.Bd2 Black usually grabs the pawn with 5...Qxb2. Now the rook on a1 is attacked.

6.Nc3! The knight gets out of the way, so your queen on d1 now guards the rook on a1 along the back rank, and White is better.

The mistake here is 6.Bc3??, attacking the queen. It runs into 6...Bb4!, pinning the bishop to your king, so it's attacked twice and can't move. The natural 7.Qd2, defending it, walks into 7...Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1 mate. Even White's best defence loses material.

In rated online games in our library, 27% of players who reached this position played 6.Bc3??

The idea to remember

When a queen checks and attacks a second piece, look for the move that answers both: a block that also moves the attacked piece, like 5.Bd2. And when your rook is attacked on the back rank, the cleanest defence is often to clear the rank so your queen guards it, not to put another piece in the way.

Train it

This is one of the opening traps OptiChess teaches as a play-through: the moves play themselves until the moment you need to look closely, then you find the move. The habit behind it, checking what your move leaves undefended before you play it, is the blunder check.

Read more

• Why puzzles don't transfer to your games

More opening traps

• How to stop Scholar's Mate
• When Scholar's Mate fails
• The King's Gambit trap
• The Stafford Gambit trap
• Two Knights Defense, 4.Ng5 Nxe4
• The Scotch Game trap
• The trapped knight on a5

Ways to train

• Chess tactics trainer
• Chess blunder trainer
• Chess pawn structures
• Chess endgame trainer
• Positional chess training
• Analyse your chess games