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This very interesting 7-move checkmate was sent in by @KudoShlnichi, a subscriber from the Netherlands. They played a very neat trap against their opponent with the white pieces, who led with the Polish Opening, aka as the Orangutan Opening (1. b4). This uncommon hypermodern opening was famously played by Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956) against Maróczy in 1924, in a tournament in New York. Tartakower had visited the zoo the day before and was impressed by Suzan, an orangutan, and had announced that he would dedicate his next game to her! Check out (Tartakower — Maróczy, 1924, New York USA)!

Savielly Tartakower (left) with Edward Lasker (right) during the 1924 New York Tournament

Against most hypermodern openings, taking the centre with pawns is usually sensible (1… e5) and this also opens the dark square diagonal for Black’s bishop to pressure White’s oddly advanced b4-pawn.

White immediately fianchettoes their dark square bishop (2. Bb2), which is part of the opening logic of the Orangutan. Note: this potentially pins Black’s e-pawn to the g7-pawn as the attack down the dark square diagonal also pressures Black’s h8-rook.

Black, however, plays into White’s opening tactical logic, and creates a devious trap! Firstly, they play the seemingly passive (2… Bd6), defending the e-pawn which coaxes White’s next move (3. f4), which ostensibly “places pressure on the pinned piece”. Black “accepts” with (3… exf4!?), inviting White to play into their tactic and they do (4. Bxg7). Black’s rook seems lost… has White won the opening?

Not so fast! White’s early movement of their f-pawn has weakened the dark square diagonal to their king and Black now plays a counterattack, a speculative trappy move (4… Qh4+!?). Stockfish calls this a mistake [+2.2], but the Lichess community database reveals that Black has a massive win ratio advantage to White in the position: Black (71%) vs White (28%)!

And we soon see why. (5. g3) is forced and after (5… fxg3), White has a very difficult position to navigate as they are teetering on the edge of checkmate. If White plays hxg3 then Qxg3#! Indeed, if White doesn’t do “something”, a forward movement of the g-pawn (e.g., g2) would reveal a discovered checkmate, and the g-pawn is one step away from promotion! In this position, there is only a single good move…

… and it isn’t the one that seems logical! White played the very natural (6. Nf3??), which attacks Black’s queen on the h4-square. This seems to avoid checkmate as movement of the g-pawn with the revealed check by the queen results in the queen’s capture. However, this is a blunder. The correct move was the difficult to find (6. Bg2), blocking the forward advance of Black’s g3-pawn, and giving an escape square for the White king!

Black now has the excellent and perhaps unexpected move (6… gxh2+), which not only reveals the expected check, but also removes White’s final defender kingside pawn and defender of that dark square diagonal. White’s (7. Nxh4), capturing the queen is forced, but this temporary victory is met with (7… Bg3#), checkmate! Black’s unexpected passive move on move 2 created the tactical resource for the win! GG!

Game: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/659659579

[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.05.21"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Xx_Lili_xX"]
[Black "KudoShlnichi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "rnb1k1nr/pppp1pBp/8/8/1P5N/6b1/P1PPP2p/RN1QKB1R w KQkq - 1 8"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "A00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Polish-Opening-1...e5-2.Bb2"]
[UTCDate "2024.05.21"]
[UTCTime "14:29:43"]
[WhiteElo "1134"]
[BlackElo "1024"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Termination "KudoShlnichi won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "14:29:43"]
[EndDate "2024.05.22"]
[EndTime "10:00:35"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/659659579"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/299772437.8f968ba7.50x50o.3be5b7666463.png"]
[WhiteCountry "149"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/170948801.ceb2e285.50x50o.a794ece122f4.gif"]
[BlackCountry "101"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. b4 {Polish Opening, aka Orangutan Opening [-0.2]. Not optimal, but tricky
hypermodern opening. Famously played by Tartakower, dedicating the game to an
orangutan he met at the zoo visit during a New York tournament  $1} 1... e5 2. Bb2
Bd6 {[%c_arrow
f8b4;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b4;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false] It was very curious
to see Black choose to NOT capture the g-pawn, and this seems to set up a rather
neat trap  $1 [+0.3]} 3. f4 {[%c_arrow
c2c4;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;c4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c4;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;c4;persistent;false] White's logic is
that the e-pawn seems to be pinned along the long dark square diagonal. However,
this move seriously weakens White's f2-diagonal to their king along the dark
squares... [-0.3]} 3... exf4 $5 {[%c_effect
f4;square;f4;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d6b4;keyPressed;none;from;d6;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b4;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false] Tricky move inviting
White's bishop to take g7, seemingly hanging the rook  $1} 4. Bxg7 Qh4+ $5
{[%c_effect h4;square;h4;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8h6;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;h6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h6;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;h6;persistent;false] This is another
speculative trappy move  $1 According to Stockfish, White is winning at [+2.2],
but in the Lichess community database, Black (71\%) vs White (28\%)  $1} 5. g3
{Forced move...} 5... fxg3 {This is a difficult position for White to navigate
as White is teetering on the edge of checkmate $1 If White plays hxg3 then Qxg3# $1 
However, if White doesn't do something, g2 could be checkmate, or allow gxh1=Q
promotion  $1 White has only a SINGLE good move...} 6. Nf3 $4 {[%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false,g2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false][%c_arrow
f1g2;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false] And this isn't
it, even though it's very natural  $1 The move to find was Bg2  $1 This blocks the
g-pawn's forward movement, and gives the White king an escape square  $1} 6...
gxh2+ {Note: discovered check AND it removes White's h-pawn, which is also the
final defender of the dark square diagonal to White's king  $1 Black can sacrifice
their queen...} 7. Nxh4 Bg3# {[%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Winner,e1;square;e1;type;CheckmateWhite][%c_arrow
g3e1;keyPressed;none;from;g3;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false] ... because they have
checkmate  $1 GG  $1} 0-1