White to Play
Published in Chess Puzzles
This is an opening trap in the Philidor Defense everyone should know. The game opens like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bc4 0–0 7.0–0 Re8 8.Re1 Nfd7 Black's idea is to either play Bf6 to counter along the diagonal or play Ne5 to chase the white bishop. Unfortunately, there's a problem with the idea. [See Diagram]
9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Ne6! which wins the queen, unless, of course, the king takes the knight, but then it's mate! 10...Kxe6 11.Qd5+ Kf6 12.Qf5#
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