The Thornton Castling Traps means when you castle with a check and your opponent’s rook is hanging. We often have a chance in our chess game to apply this trap but we forgot to think about it. All chess grandmasters know this castling trap and we should know about it.

Let’s see the Thornton castling trap in the practice of chess players.

Castling Trap Game 1

[Event "USA"] [Site "?"] [Date "1884.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Thornton, G."] [Black "Boultbee"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C30"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1884.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be3 Qe7 8. Bd3 Re8 9. a3 Ng4 10. Bg1 f5 11. Be2 fxe4 12. Nd5 Qf7 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Nxe6 Rxe6 15. Qxg4 c6 16. Qxe6 Qxe6 17. Ne7+ Kf8 18. Bxe6 Kxe7 19. Bc8 Nd7 20. Bxb7 Rb8 21. Bxc6 Rxb2 22. Bxd7 Kxd7 23. Bxc5 dxc5 24. O-O-O+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Castling Trap Game 2

[Event "Oradea"] [Site "?"] [Date "1948.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Borbely"] [Black "Kovacs"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B53"] [PlyCount "27"] [EventDate "1948.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 Rb8 9. e5 dxe5 10. Nxe5 Rxb2 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Qxd7+ Kxd7 14. O-O-O+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Castling Trap Game 3

Flip the board to black side

[Event "Detroit"] [Site "?"] [Date "1949.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Palmer, M."] [Black "Euwe, M."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B28"] [PlyCount "28"] [EventDate "1949.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 e5 6. Nb3 Nc6 7. O-O d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Be4 Be6 10. Qf3 Qd7 11. Rd1 Bg4 12. Rxd5 Bxf3 13. Rxd7 Bxe4 14. Rxb7 O-O-O 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Castling Trap Game 4

Flip to black side.

[Event "Cleveland League"] [Site "?"] [Date "1987.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Marsh, S."] [Black "Stephenson, FN."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A52"] [PlyCount "34"] [EventDate "1987.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Bf4 Bb4+ 5. Nd2 d6 6. exd6 Qf6 7. Bg3 Qxb2 8. Ngf3 Bf5 9. h3 Bc2 10. Qc1 Bc3 11. Qxb2 Bxb2 12. Nb3 cxd6 13. hxg4 Bxb3 14. Rb1 Bc3+ 15. Nd2 Bxc4 16. Bxd6 Na6 17. Rxb7 O-O-O 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Castling Trap Game 5

[Event "Stockholm"] [Site "?"] [Date "2007.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Berczes, C."] [Black "Madsen, M."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [PlyCount "29"] [EventDate "2007.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. c4 Be6 8. Nc3 Nf6 9. Bg5 Rb8 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Bxd5 Rxb2 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. Qxd8+ Kxd8 15. O-O-O+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Conclusion:

This is very easy to remember once you saw all the exemplary chess games. This trick in castling often occurs in our game but we miss out. Now you know the stuff and I hope you will never miss this chance again.

Check Also: Flank Opening Traps ⇒ https://www.chessonly.com/flank-opening-traps/