Trapped!

In a recent blog entry I noted that I was going to be changing openings, and that it was likely that I would lose some games because of not really understanding my new opening yet. When I said that I wasn't referring specifically to traps, but those are important to know too, as I was reminded to my shame.

It's embarrassing to have this happen to you, and I can't even blame the fact that I was learning a new opening since this same trap could have been played against me even if I had still been playing my old one.

Making me feel worse, I had seen this trap before, I think in a video from one of the more popular chess streamers--maybe Eric Rosen, I don't know. I didn't remember it until I was so far into the trap that there was no way out. It's very difficult to remember stuff like this until you see it in one of your own games. Now that it has, I'm pretty confident that I will not fall into this trap again. One of the things that makes chess so difficult is that you try to learn by studying the games of other people, but what happens in those games has no personal impact on you. You see an instructive mistake or a pretty attacking pattern and you think you can file that information away and use it in your own games, but in most cases the information is filed so far away that you don't recall it until the chance to use it in your own game has passed. It's different when it happens in your own game; it sticks with you. That's one of the reasons analyzing your own games is one of the best ways to improve.

With regard to traps in general, it's important to learn common traps in the openings you play most. Even if you don't usually play for traps your opponents might, and you don't want to suffer a humiliating loss like I did above. You can't always learn every opening trap, but there are common ones that every experienced player should know, at least in their favorite openings. If you play the Ruy Lopez with either color you ought to know the Noah's Ark Trap. If you play the Queen's Gambit as White you should be familiar with the Elephant Trap. These are two of the most common traps in chess.

When you learn them they make quite an impression and you think you'll be able to remember them. You might, but when they happen in your own games you definitely will.