Italian Game Traps: 4 Real Traps for White and Black
The Italian Game, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, is the first opening many players learn, and it is full of traps. Two traps in this article are for White: a queen sacrifice that ends in mate, and the famous Fried Liver Attack. Two are for Black: the Blackburne Shilling trap and the Traxler Counterattack. Each trap is on its own board with the side lines, a Stockfish evaluation and a short "how to avoid it".
8 min readPublished November 2026By Surajit Paul4 traps · 4 boards
Trap 2 below is the Fried Liver Attack. In this video from our Stockfish channel, Stockfish 18 plays it against LeelaZero. Watch it, then replay each trap on the boards at your own speed.
Stockfish 18 PLAYED Fried Liver Attack and Sacrificed his Rook Against LeelaZero | Rama chess
How to use the boards: press ▶ Play or tap a move. The buttons above each board switch to the side lines (what if the other player plays something else). Arrows show the threats; draw your own with a right-click drag. The numbers are Stockfish 18 evaluations: + means White is better, - means Black is better.
Italian Game traps for White
Both White traps punish a natural move: keeping a pin with ...Bh5, and taking back on d5 with the knight. They are the best known Italian Game traps for White.
WHITE TRAPTrap 1: The Legal Trap (Legal's Mate)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5?Black falls for it with 6...Bxd1??8.Nd5# - checkmate
Black pins the f3 knight and keeps the pin with ...Bh5. White simply takes on e5 and leaves the queen. If Black takes it, three white minor pieces give mate. Press Play, then try the side lines.
How to avoid it: as Black, after 5.h3 take the knight with 5...Bxf3 or go back with 5...Be6. If you already played 5...Bh5 and White takes on e5, play 6...Nxe5: you lose a pawn, not the game.
WHITE TRAPTrap 2: The Fried Liver Attack (Two Knights Defence)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5Black falls for it with 5...Nxd5?6.Nxf7! - the king is dragged to e6
White attacks f7 with the knight and bishop. Black blocks with ...d5, but the natural recapture 5...Nxd5 lets White give a knight on f7 and pull the black king to e6. One wrong king move after 7.Qf3+ and Black is mated. Press Play.
How to avoid it: as Black, after 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 do not take back. Play 5...Na5! and hit the bishop. If you are already in the Fried Liver, the king must go to e6, never g8.
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Italian Game traps for Black
Both Black traps are gambits. They are not the best moves on the board (Stockfish prefers White after 3...Nd4 and after 4...Bc5), but one natural reply by White loses at once.
BLACK TRAPTrap 3: The Blackburne Shilling Trap
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4White falls for it with 4.Nxe5? and 5.Nxf7??7...Nf3# - smothered mate
A trap for Black. Black leaves the e5 pawn hanging with 3...Nd4. If White grabs it, ...Qg5 hits the knight and g2, and greedy play ends in a smothered mate on move 7. Press Play.
How to avoid it: as White, meet 3...Nd4 with 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.c3 or simply castle with 4.O-O. Never take on e5 with the knight while the black knight sits on d4.
BLACK TRAPTrap 4: The Traxler Counterattack (Wilkes-Barre)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5White falls for it with 7.Ke1??7...Qh4+ - Black wins the h1 rook
A trap for Black in the Two Knights. Black lets White fork on f7, gives the bishop on f2 and checks with the knight on e4. If the white king goes back to e1, the queen comes to h4 and wins the rook. Press Play.
How to avoid it: as White, answer 4...Bc5 with 5.Bxf7+, or after 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ play 6.Kf1!. If you took on f2, the king goes to g1 after 6...Nxe4+, never back to e1.
Where the names come from
The Legal Trap is named after the French player Sire de Legall. In his famous game against Saint Brie in Paris he gave rook odds and won with this mate. Most books date the game 1750, but some historians think 1787 is more likely. The modern version with 5.h3 Bh5 comes from later games.
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit is named after the English master Joseph Henry Blackburne. The story is that he set this trap in cafes and won a shilling a game. There are no recorded games of Blackburne playing it, so the story may not be true. It is also called the Kostic Gambit.
The Traxler Counterattack is named after Karel Traxler, a Czech problem composer, who played it against Reinisch in Prague in 1890. Frank Marshall later called it the Wilkes-Barre Variation, after the town in Pennsylvania.
How to play the Italian Game without falling into traps
Most Italian Game traps work against one weak square: f7 for Black and f2 for White. Only the king guards it at the start. Three simple habits keep you safe:
Count the attackers on f7 and f2. When the knight comes to g5 next to a bishop on c4, f7 is hit twice. Block with ...d5 and do not open the bishop's line again.
Do not grab the e5 pawn when a knight sits on d4. In the Blackburne Shilling trap the free pawn costs the game.
A pin is only real if the piece behind it is safe. In the Legal Trap the pin on f3 looks strong, but the queen behind it is bait.
The Fried Liver Attack: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5? 6.Nxf7! Kxf7 7.Qf3+ and the black king must walk to e6. The Legal Trap, which ends in mate on move 8, is just as well known.
Is there an Italian Game trap for White?
Yes, two in this article. In the Legal Trap, after 5.h3 Bh5? 6.Nxe5! Bxd1?? 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Nd5# White mates. In the Fried Liver, 5...Nxd5? lets White sacrifice on f7 and attack the king.
What are the best Italian Game traps for Black?
The Blackburne Shilling trap (3...Nd4 4.Nxe5? Qg5! 5.Nxf7?? Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Nf3#) and the Traxler Counterattack (4.Ng5 Bc5!?). Both are gambits that Stockfish does not trust, so use them as surprise weapons.
Is the Fried Liver Attack a winning trap?
Not by force. After 7...Ke6 8.Nc3 Nb4 Black can defend, and Stockfish gives White only about +0.7. But Black must find exact moves; 7...Kg8?? loses to mate in 3. The safe way for Black is 5...Na5.
How do I stop the Blackburne Shilling Gambit?
Do not take on e5. Play 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.c3 or 4.O-O, and White is better (Stockfish +0.7 to +1.0). Even after 4.Nxe5 Qg5, the move 5.Bxf7+ keeps White in the game.
What is the difference between Legal Trap and Legal Mate?
They are the same idea. The trap is the queen sacrifice 6.Nxe5!, and the mate at the end (Bxf7+ and Nd5#) is called Legal's Mate.
Set these traps in your own games
Play the Italian Game against a bot and see who walks into the Fried Liver first.
