The Rubinstein Trap is a chess opening

Chess opening

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

 trap

Chess trap

- List of chess traps :Ordered by chess opening:*Albin Countergambit – Lasker Trap*Blackmar-Diemer Gambit – Halosar Trap*Bogo-Indian Defence – Monticelli Trap*Budapest Gambit – Kieninger Trap...

 in the Queen's Gambit Declined

Queen's Gambit Declined

The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:This is known as the Orthodox Line of the Queen's Gambit Declined...

, Orthodox Defense.
Black loses a pawn after Nxd5 due to the threat of his queen

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

 being trapped on the back rank by Bc7. (See diagram. The black queen would be attacked by a white bishop

Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...

 while being hemmed in by its own pieces.)

History

The trap takes its name from Akiba Rubinstein

Akiba Rubinstein

Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I...

, who had the misfortune of falling into it twice, in the games Euwe

Max Euwe

Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...

–Rubinstein, Bad Kissingen

Bad Kissingen

Bad Kissingen is a spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and is the seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is a world-famous health resort.- Town structure :...

 1928, and Alekhine

Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...

–Rubinstein, San Remo

Sanremo

Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...

 1930.
Rubinstein was not the first to fall victim to the trap, as the first recorded game featuring the trap is Amos Burn

Amos Burn

Amos Burn was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer....

 – Heinrich Wolf

Heinrich Wolf

Heinrich Wolf was an Austrian chess master.-Biography:In 1899, he tied for 5-7th in Vienna . In 1900 he tied for 7-10th in Munich...

, Ostend

Ostend

Ostend  is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

1905.

Euwe–Rubinstein, Bad Kissingen 1928:

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Nf6 (transposing into the Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense) 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 a6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. O-O Re8 11. Qb3 h6 12. Bf4 Nh5? (see diagram; Black falls into the trap) 13. Nxd5 (now Black will lose a pawn after 13... Nxf4 14. Nxf4, or more, after 13... cxd5 14.Bc7 – the black queen is trapped on the back rank by her own pieces).