Petrov Queen Trap
Petrov's Defense · intermediate · set by White
A pinned knight looks safe to retreat — retreating it loses the queen.
White's queen pins Black's knight to the king along the e-file. The natural-looking retreat back to f6 seems to solve the problem, but it doesn't break the pin properly — White's knight jumps to c6 with check, forking the king and queen. The only safe move is countering with the queen instead, which both breaks the pin and attacks White's knight.
Move by move
- 1. e4: Opens the center.
- 1... e5: Black mirrors White's move.
- 2. Nf3: Standard development.
- 2... Nf6: Black mirrors again — the symmetry is about to break.
- 3. Nxe5: White grabs the pawn immediately.
- 3... Nxe4: Black grabs a pawn back symmetrically — looks completely safe.
- 4. Qe2: Pins the knight to the king along the e-file.
- 4... Nf6 (the mistake): The natural-looking retreat — but it doesn't actually solve the pin properly. This is the losing move.
- 5. Nc6+: The knight jumps in with check, forking the king and queen at the same time.
Safe instead: Qe7