Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Engine Trap

Levon Aronian (Yerevan, 6 October 1983) is an Armenian GM but in year 2021 he switched federations from Armenia to the US Chess Federation because of disagreements with the first.

Aronian is one of the most creative chess players in terms of openings.

His followers had the chance to see one of his novelties in the FIDE World Rapid Championship (Warshaw, 2021). He played Black against German GM Daniel Fridman and uncorked what seems a homemade trap clearly winning the initiative and advantage already in move 10.

What shocks of this trap is the disastrous consequence of the natural White’s 10th move. If you check with the engine the position after Black’s 9th move, the result of the evaluation is more or less equal. But 10.Qxh7?? changes completely the result in Black’s favour. That makes today’s trap an appropriate surprise in games with short time control.

However, I am sure that in a classical game between GMs, White should be more cautious and play 9.Qb3.

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