Opening books are popular. Actually, I don’t really know why. Because personally, I have never finished an opening book. Most of the opening books in my bookcase lead a sad existence. At best, I will occasionally consult them as a reference.

Perhaps those books are so popular because we hope for a quick victory? Or to avoid having to resign after a couple of moves? No idea. But what I do know is that it is useful to know and avoid falling into opening traps. Or much better: trapping your opponent.

IM Sagar Shah has started a fun series about traps in the opening on the youtube channel of ChessBase India. The videos are released at a rapid pace. They are short and entertaining. The most important thing: you are introduced to some nasty tactics in the opening. Take, for instance, this video about the Accelerated Dragon in the Sicilian defence.

Sagar Shah regularly enlivens his lesson with a light anecdote. In the next video, he is playing a game of chess with his wife. Apparently, you shouldn’t mess with her. Watch how this turned out.

The next video is also funny and contains a wise lesson: understanding is more important than memorizing moves!

While we’re on the subject of his wife, don’t miss the next video. Sagar Shah shows a well-known trap from the Morra gambit.

It appears years later he got married to Amruta Mokal. See “An Indian chess wedding”

What I’ve seen so far is worth it. It is funny, entertaining and you might be able to play some of these cunning traps in your own games. Blitz seems very suitable for that purpose.