The Noah's Ark Trap

A piece is not only lost by being captured — it can be shut in. Here the white bishop goes pawn-hunting, gets pushed back twice, and ends up in a corner where the black pawns take away its squares one at a time — hence the name, the pawns closing around it like an ark. The lesson is a habit worth forming: before sending a piece deep into enemy territory, count the squares it can come back to.

Themes

• piece-piegee
• ouverture
• espagnole