The Mortimer Trap
By Michael Goeller
I first came across "the Mortimer trap" (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Ne7!?) in Graham Burgess's wonderful little book, 101 Chess Opening Surprises, where it gets a very brief and optimistic mention.
He notes that 5.Nxe5? (the "Trap"!) "fails to 5...c6, winning a piece" and that Black's intent otherwise is ...Ng6, ...c6, and ...d5. In practice, though, Black rarely can play ...d5 right away without risking an attack on the e-file, but he will get a solid game unless White plays aggressively. What's more, because of the line's relative absence from the literature, quite a few opponents at the amateur level will fall for the trap, as did a young Frank Marshall in our first illustrative game.
Unfortunately, if White does not fall for the trap and does play aggressively, he can get a strong attack in at least three ways: with an early h4 thrust to harrass the wandering Knight on g6, a d4 break to blow open the center, or a direct attack on Black's f7 square by Bc4 and Ng5. These early White attacks seem justified by Black's potentially time-wasting Knight maneuver, and they have been known for some time. In fact, it was likely because of these attacking ideas that the Mortimer trap was practically abandoned at the master level for the past 100 years.
The line appears to be undergoing a mini-revival of sorts, to judge by some recent database games. It's only natural that it should be rediscovered, given the recent popularity of the Berlin Defense to the Spanish / Ruy Lopez generally. It is not clear, however, that Black has solved the old problems with the line, though a recent article in Kaissiber 20 by GM Bent Larsen suggests some new ideas that may well lead to a more positive reconsideration. I have only touched on the critical variations and refer interested readers to my bibliography for additional commentary and analysis.
The Trap
Frank J. Marshall - Vladimir Sournin [C65]
Match (10), Brooklyn Chess Club (10) 1897
In his Brooklyn Eagle chess column, Hermann Helms writes: "Two games were contested in the match between F.J. Marshall, Junior State Champion, and V. Sournin of New York, at the Brooklyn Chess Club, yesterday. Sournin won the tenth game in which he caught his opponent in the Mortimer trap of the Ruy Lopez, winning after tewenty-seven moves...." Based on Helms's remarks, I'd assume the Mortimer trap was well known at the time and that the "Young Marshall" simply did not know his theory.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7!?
The idea of American amateur James Mortimer, who popularized the idea in the late 19th Century. After a break of 100 years, during which the move practically disappeared from theory, the move is again seen occasionally, and can again catch unwary opponents in its trap.
5. Nxe5?
This move is difficult to resist if you don't see what's coming.
5... c6! 6. Nc4!?
Trap counter-trap was always Marshall's method! Not much better was 6. Bc4 Qa5+ 7. Nc3 Qxe5
6... d6
Of course, not 6... cxb5?? 7. Nd6#
7. e5?!
7. Nc3 a6! 8. Ba4 b5
7... dxe5
8. Ba4 b5 9. Nxe5 bxa4 10. O-O Qb6 11. c4 Be6 12. Re1 Ng6 13. Qxa4 Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Bc5 15. Re2? O-O 16. Qc2 Bf5 17. Rd2?
Marshall appears to be curling up and playing dead, like a possum!
17... Rad8 18. Rd1 Rfe8 19. h3 Bxd3! 20. Rxd3 Rxd3 21. Qxd3 Re1+ 22. Kh2 Rxc1 23. Qd2? Qc7+ 24. g3 Rf1! 25. Qd3 Rxf2+ 26. Kh1 Ne4! 27. Qxe4 Qxg3
and mate is unavoidable.
0-1
Mortimer's Games
Joseph Noa - James Mortimer [C65]
London 1883
White Attacking Scheme #1
Zahar Efimenko (2601) - Alexander Cherniaev (2509) [C65]
Coventry open (3) 2005
White Attacking Scheme #2
A. Gabrielian (2490) - A. Gorbatov (2381) [C65]
Open/Moscow RUS (3) 2006
Black's New Tricks
Wisotschin - Tony Miles [C65]
Cappelle la Grande 1997
Games in PGN
Bibliography
Readers may be interested in the following sources for additional information on this line.
Burgess, Graham. 101 Chess Opening Surprises (Gambit 1998 / 2001): 25.
Hilbert, John S. Young Marshall: The Early Chess Career of Frank James Marshall, with Collected Games 1893-1900 (Moravian Chess 2002): 165.
Larsen, Bent. "So machen wilden Pfad." Kaissiber 20 (July-September 2005): 10-17.
Spinrad, Jeremy P. "New Stories about Old Chessplayers: James Mortimer." Chess Cafe
Urcan, Olimpiu G. "Captain Vladimir Sournin: A Russian Chess Player's Exploits in America.. Correspondence Chess, On the Square (September 1, 2006).
Winter, Edward. "Mortimer's trap." Chess Notes 4845
Michael Goeller © 2007
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