Fried Liver Attack
The Fried Liver Attack: after 5...Nxd5? White sacrifices a knight on f7 and drags the black king into the centre. The line, the fix and how often it works.
The Fried Liver Attack starts from the Two Knights Defense, when White jumps to g5 and Black recaptures on d5 with the knight. It is one of the most common opening accidents in club chess: around 1300, about half of the players who reach the position play the losing recapture.
How the Fried Liver Attack works
Click a card to see it on the board, then play the punishment yourself.
How often does it work?
Counted in real rated Lichess games, not estimated.
| Rating | Reached the position | Played 5...Nxd5? | Fall rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1200–1400 | 5,070 games | 2,732 | 54% |
| 1500–1700 | 3,396 games | 1,056 | 31% |
| 1900–2100 | 2,217 games | 166 | 7% |
Sample: up to 1,000,000 rated Lichess games per rating band (May 2024), same move order only.
Among players rated 1800 and higher, 5...Nxd5? was played in 6,665 of the games our puzzles are drawn from. Strong players fall for it too.
How to avoid the Fried Liver Attack
What Black should play instead.
Other versions of the trap
The same idea from a different move order.
Now spot it in a real game
Knowing a trap by name is not the same as seeing it at the board. Solve positions from real games until the pattern fires by itself.
Fried Liver Attack
Getting there…5...Nxd5 looks natural, but it leaves f7 defended only by the king. 6.Nxf7! forces 6...Kxf7, and 7.Qf3+ hits the king and the knight on d5 at once. Black has to walk the king to e6 to hold the knight, and after 8.Nc3 White keeps piling up on d5 with the black king stuck in the middle. The engine calls it about a pawn for White, but over the board Black's position is very hard to defend.