Bird Opening Traps

This page collects 19 real traps from the Bird Opening. 10 of them end in checkmate. The mistake comes on move 6.6 on average, and the earliest one on move 4. Each trap has a board you can step through and a “test yourself” mode.

Bird Opening traps by difficulty

Other openings

Sicilian Defense 28 Italian Game 22 Ruy Lopez 19 Vienna Game 19 French Defense 17 Caro-Kann Defense 16 Indian Defense 16 English Opening 15 King's Gambit Declined 14 Bishop's Opening 13 Petrov's Defense 13 Alekhine Defense 12 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Accepted 12 Scotch Game 12 King's Gambit Accepted 10 Scandinavian Defense 10 Englund Gambit 8 Philidor Defense 8 Queen's Gambit Declined 7 Center Game 6 Grob Opening 6 Nimzowitsch Defense 6 Queen's Pawn Game 6 Trompowsky Attack 6 Van Geet Opening 6 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 5 Elephant Gambit 5 Four Knights Game 5 King's Pawn Game 5 Owen Defense 5 Pirc Defense 5 Queen's Gambit Accepted 5 Benko Gambit 4 Dutch Defense 4 Grünfeld Defense 4 Nimzo-Indian Defense 4 Nimzo-Larsen Attack 4 Polish Opening 4 Queen's Indian Defense 4 Benoni Defense 3 Latvian Gambit 3 Old Indian Defense 3 Ponziani Opening 3 St. George Defense 3 Three Knights Opening 3 Borg Defense 2 Danish Gambit Accepted 2 Danish Gambit Declined 2 King's Gambit 2 King's Indian Defense 2 Latvian Gambit Accepted 2 Modern Defense 2 Rat Defense 2 Réti Opening 2 Tarrasch Defense 2 Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 2 Zukertort Opening 2 Benko Gambit Accepted 1 Benko Gambit Declined 1 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Declined 1 Mexican Defense 1 Rapport-Jobava System 1 Slav Defense 1

All opening traps

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Frequently asked questions

How many Bird Opening traps are there?

Here you can study 19 real Bird Opening traps. 10 end in checkmate and the rest win material or a clearly winning position.

Which Bird Opening trap is the easiest to learn?

Start with the Rookie level traps listed first on this page — they are short and the mistake is easy to remember. Then move on to higher levels.