The Légal Trap | MOST BEAUTIFUL opening attack ⚡ Quick Wins #100 😙🤌
#quickwins #legaltrap #ohnomyqueen #brilliant #chessromance
I’m very pleased to present the century in the series! We’ve finally reached Chess Noob Quick Wins #100! Thank you to everybody has followed my channel and blog. The Quick Wins series has always been a bit of a collaboration as it couldn’t have been made without submissions from subscribers. From the start of the series two years ago, it’s also been the series that has shaped my thinking, playing style, and aesthetics about chess!
This will be a very special entry in the Quick Wins series. It is the anniversary of the release of my first book, 50+2 Chess Quick Wins: Tactical ideas for exciting chess for beginner players, based on the first fifty games in the series! It’s sold much better than my expectations and if you haven’t bought a copy, you know you want to! 😏
50+2 Chess Quick Wins: Tactical ideas for exciting chess for beginner players. Buy on Amazon! US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | NL | AU
SPECIAL NOTE: if you reply to this article (or send a DM if you’re shy) with a photo of you holding a copy of 50+2 Chess Quick Wins, I’ll contact you to send you a signed personalised electronic book version! 🤩
For Quick Wins #100, I’m going to include material from one of the chapters of the new book I’m currently writing. This book will be similar in spirit to 50+2 Chess Quick Wins, but framed, structured, and organised very differently. It’ll cover what I consider to be the best opening attacks and traps, but from the perspective of Romantic Chess rather than necessarily evaluation accuracy (though, many of these historical lines are very accurate). Moreover, I will include the weird and wonderful stories of the people who have played these lines. To quote myself in the draft introduction:
I take the philosophical stance that the best chess opening attacks are not those that necessarily must be the most accurate. Rather, these are opening lines that inspire and capture the imagination. They surprise us and delight us. They elicit emotions like awe and wonder, feelings that we might not have thought possible in an endeavour that at a prosaic level, simply involves moving pieces on a square board. The best chess opening attacks are evocative. And the purpose? In taking you, dear reader, on a journey exploring these marvellous lines, my hope is that you’ll see chess in a brilliant new light. And in doing so, that you’ll be motivated to play more chess, especially exciting chess! The best chess opening attacks make chess beautiful.
Today, we’re going to cover one of the oldest and most beautiful opening attacks from the Romantic Age, the Légal Trap (also known as the Légal Mate and Légal Pseudo-Sacrifice). Three minor pieces, two knights and a bishop, coordinate to weave a seemingly impossible checkmate net.
The trap is named after François Antoine de Légal de Kermeur (1702-1792), a French chess master and probably the world’s best player in the mid-1700s until 1755, when he was defeated by his celebrated pupil Philidor, who is possibly better remembered and recorded by history. Both de Légal and Philidor reigned supreme during their time at the famous Café de la Régence ("Regency Cafe") in Paris, one of the most important European centres of chess in 18th and 19th centuries. Importantly, the introduction of coffee to France and with it, the ascendency of the early Parisian coffee houses in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, established the timeless and indelible tradition and delight of playing chess while caffeinated!
However, before we have a look at what de Légal actually played in 1750, let’s have a quick look at an instructive indicative line, for instance, (Chéron—Janloz, 1929). This was played by IM Andre Chéron (1895-1980), the three-times French chess champion (1926, ’27, ’29) in a simultaneous exhibition in Switzerland.
The Indicative Légal Trap from the Italian Game: Chéron — Janloz, 1929
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5? 6. Nxe5!! Bxd1?? 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 8. Nd5# 1-0
Chéron with the White pieces beings with the Italian Game, and Janloz plays an opening inaccuracy with (3… d6), the Paris Defense. The move is a bit passive and potentially blocks in their king’s bishop. Their plan, however, becomes apparent with (4… Bg4), a bold manoeuvre that pins White’s f3-knight to the queen. The engine evaluates this as “fine”, but this is probably suboptimal according to opening principles as the attack is somewhat unbalanced. Black should develop first.
White responds with (5. h3), asking the question of what the bishop is doing there, and Black needed to tactical fortitude to trade their bishop for their knight. That’s why the bishop was there in the first place!
Instead, Black played the natural backward bishop move (5… Bh5?), maintaining the pin, but a mistake! This is as White now has the glorious, “oh no, my queen!” trap with (6. Nxe5!!). Janloz walks into the trap, capturing the poisoned queen (6… Bxd1??), and White now has a gorgeous checkmate-in-two! Firstly, (7. Bxf7+) which forces Black’s king to bongcloud (7… Ke7), and then the coup de grâce (8. Nd5#). Chef’s kiss. 😚🤌
Now, you might ask, what if Black doesn’t fall into the trap and instead captures White’s knight with (6… Nxe5), which seems to chain an attack on White’s c4-bishop. Didn’t White just trade a knight for a pawn? No! You see, after it appears that White has traded two minor pieces for Black’s h5-bishop and e5-pawn (7. Qxh5 Nxc4), White flies their queen to the other side of the board with (8. Qb5+), an absolute fork of Black’s king and c4-knight. Even in the best-case scenario for Black, White emerges ahead on material and development!
Légal Trap from the Max Lange, Vienna Gambit: Pillsbury — Fernandez, 1900
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. fxe5!! Nxe5?? 7. Nxe5!! Bxd1?? 8. Bxf7+ Ke7 9. Nd5# 1-0
The Légal Trap can emerge from several openings, and this is a double-brilliancy example played by Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906), the US chess champion, in a simultaneous exhibition tour of Germany. Pillsbury was a prodigiously strong player, and may even have ascended to world champion, if not for poor health and dying young.
Pillsbury was born in Somerville, Massachusetts USA, near Boston, and didn’t learn chess until his teenage years, which was when his extraordinary talent was revealed to the world. By his early 20s, he was heralded as the new Paul Morphy, and at the age of 25, he’d become the US chess champion, an honour he held for the remainder of his life.
Sadly, events took a turn in the St. Petersburg 1895-96 chess tournament. Pillsbury started strong, leading midway with 6 ½ points out of 9, a point ahead of Lasker. However, he bombed in the second half, scoring only 1 ½ out of 9. What happened?
It is believed that in the week prior to the tournament start, Pillsbury contracted syphilis, incurable at the time; penicillin would not be available as treatment until the 1940s. It was reported that Pillsbury suffered from “influenza” with headaches, fever, body aches, in the tournament. More likely these were the symptoms of primary syphilis. Had Pillsbury won the tournament, it may have forced a world championship match against Lasker. At the age of 33, Pillsbury died from the consequences of neurosyphilis and stroke.
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In this game, Pillsbury played with White and leads with the Vienna Game, the opponent responded with the Max Lange Defense, and Pillsbury then struck with the Vienna Gambit (3. f4) in the Max Lange. I like him already! 🤩 The game proceeds simply and like the first game, Black plays (3… d6), which is understandable against the Vienna Gambit, and then (5… Bg4), ostensibly pinning White’s f3-knight to the queen.
Pillsbury now plays two brilliancies in a row! Firstly, (6. fxe5!!) seems to “hang” (6… Nxe5??), which comes with a fork of White’s f3-knight (which is “pinned” to the queen) and the c4-bishop. But the second brilliancy is the “oh no, my queen” (7. Nxe5!!) manoeuvre. The queen is poisoned, and once again, chef’s kiss. 😚🤌
Ultimate flex, the OG Légal Trap: de Légal — Saint Brie, 1750
Handicap: a1-rook removed (rook odds)
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 d6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. Nxe5!? Bxd1?? 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Nd5# 1-0
The game begins with the grand old master of the Café de la Régence giving rook odds to his opponent. Because he’s the boss and he can! De Légal leads with the tricky Bishop’s Opening, and Saint Brie responds on the second move with d6 – which is perhaps a somewhat provocative move in the context of history.
A year earlier in 1749, François-André Danican Philidor (1726-1795), de Légal’s prodigious pupil (and soon to be superior in chess at the Café!) published his celebrated instructional manual and guide to chess, Analyse du jeu des Échecs (Analysis of the Game of Chess). Within its pages is Philidor’s most famous quotation, “Les pions sont l’âme du jeu d’échecs” (English: “Pawns are the soul of chess”). And one can understand through his appreciation of the humble pawn that Philidor would recommend in his book the conservative (2… d6), an opening that now bears his name as Philidor’s Defense. Most certainly, de Légal would have recognised this!
Despite his virtuosity in chess, Philidor is today better remembered as one of the leading French opera composers of the mid-eighteenth century. Proving that lightning can strike twice, Philidor was also a musical prodigy in a famous family of musicians. At the tender age of 14-years he set off to Paris to earn a living by giving music lessons, and soon found himself playing chess at the Café, being taught by de Légal.
Like many of the Romantic era chess masters, Philidor has his own fascinating tales. In December 1745, Philidor took on a job to produce a twelve-concert tour of the Netherlands featuring a Miss Lanza, a 13-year-old virtuoso harpsichord player. Unfortunately, the poor girl died from smallpox and the concerts were cancelled. The 19-year-old Philidor suddenly found himself stranded in the Netherlands with no money, and no way back to Paris! With his skills on the chessboard, he supported himself by teaching in the coffee houses of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and then later in England. It was during this period in his early 20s that he was immersed in chess and wrote his famous book. This garnered Philidor several royal patrons including Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786), and Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), to whom the first edition of his book was dedicated.
In 1754, Philidor returned to Paris a much stronger chess player and finally defeated his old master, de Légal, at the Café in 1755. For many years to come, Philidor was considered the strongest chess player in the world though Philidor’s return to Paris marked a change in his career focus. He devoted himself back to musical composition and production and found considerable success.
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In this game, the position transposed back into the Italian Game. Notice that at the end of turn 3, the position is the same as in (Chéron — Janloz, 1929), except for the missing rook. However, on move 5, de Légal demonstrates why he’s the original gangster! For his eponymous trap to work, (5. h6 Bh5) is needed, so that the position isn't critically damaged should Black refuse the allure of the hanging queen with (6… Nxe5).
De Légal was having none of that and played a delightfully evil psychological trick. It is recorded that he seemingly touched his f3-knight by accident, and then pulled away his hand. Saint Brie (of course!) saw the touch and reminded de Légal of the touch move rule. Continuing the charade, de Légal “regretfully” (😏) played (5. Nxe5!?) and of cause, Saint Brie gleefully captured the poisoned queen! Chef’s kiss. 😚🤌
De Légal, the strongest player in the world in 1750, gave rook odds, and then lulled his opponent into a mistake with a shameless bluff, just to capture a quick win a turn earlier than what should be feasibly possible! I think that this is the best Quick Win in history! Let’s try to keep the spirit of romanticism alive when playing chess in the modern day! It's okay to sometimes play like de Légal! 🤩👍
