Ruy Lopez, Mortimer Trap Ruy Lopez, Mortimer Trap The Mortimer Trap is a chess opening trap in the Ruy Lopez named after James Mortimer. The Mortimer Trap is a true trap in the sense that Black deliberately plays an inferior move hoping to trick White into making a mistake. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 4... Ne7 5. Nxe5? c6! (see diagram) 6. Nc4 6... d6! 7. Ba4 b5 Mortimer played his defense at the 1883 London tournament against Berthold Englisch, Samuel Rosenthal, and Josef Noa, losing all three games. Johannes Zukertort, the tournament winner, also played it against
Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation than this. White now threatens 6.Nxe5 because the sequence 6...Qd4 7.Nf3 Qxe4 to regain the pawn, now fails to 8.Re1 pinning and winning the queen. "ECO" code C68 examines these responses to 5.0-0: 5...Qf6, 5...Qe7, 5...Bd6, 5...Qd6, or 5...Bg4 (all directly defending the e5-pawn, except 5...Bg4 which indirectly defends by pinning the knight). The moves 5...Be6, 5...Be7, and 5...Ne7 are less common moves which have never achieved popularity. The idea behind these moves is that if White plays to win a pawn with 6.Nxe5, 6...Qd4 7.Nf3 Qxe4 is again playable, as the Black minor piece on e6 or e7 blocks