A52 · Opening trap · Indian Defense: Budapest Defense
Kieninger Trap
The Kieninger Trap in the Budapest Gambit: White wins a bishop with 8.axb4?? and is mated at once by 8...Nd3, a smothered mate on move eight.
Set byBlack
Losing move8.axb4? → 8...Nd3#!
Named after the German master Georg Kieninger. It appears in the main line of the Budapest Gambit, when White tries to hold the extra pawn with Bf4.
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How the Kieninger Trap works
Click a card to see it on the board, then play the punishment yourself.
How to avoid the Kieninger Trap
What White should play instead.
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.
Kieninger Trap
Getting there…The bishop on b4 really is hanging, but the e-file is the problem. The queen on e7 pins the e2 pawn to the king, so after 8.axb4 the knight lands on d3 with check and the pawn cannot take it. Every square around the king is blocked by White's own pieces: mate.