Legal's mate
A queen sacrifice followed by three minor pieces delivering a smothering checkmate in the centre.
Legal's mate (also spelled Legall's mate after the French player Sire de Legal) is a stunning opening trap where White sacrifices the queen and then delivers checkmate with three minor pieces. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 g6 5.Nxe5! Bxd1?? 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#, the game is over.
The key insight: when the opponent pins your knight to the queen with a bishop, you can sometimes un-pin by sacrificing the queen entirely. The three minor pieces then deliver a checkmate so quickly the opponent cannot react. Before capturing a 'pinned' queen, always check whether the pin might be a trap.
Nd5# - Legal's mate delivered
White's knight on d5 delivers checkmate. The black king on e7 is surrounded: d8 is its own queen, f7 is the white bishop, f8 is its own bishop. The knight on d5 covers f6, f4, c3, b4, b6, and c7 - and the knight on e5 covers d7 and f7 (already occupied). Black's own pawn structure and pieces complete the cage in the centre.
Nxe5! - the queen sacrifice that starts Legal's mate
White plays Nxe5!, apparently hanging the queen to the bishop on h5. If Black grabs the queen with Bxd1, White plays Bxf7+ Ke7 Nd5#. The bishop on h5 should simply retreat; taking the queen loses immediately. This is the Legal's mate trap in its natural opening setting.
Key chess terms
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