Chess Patterns ❯ Pawn Techniques ❯ Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
A Noah's Ark Trap is a tactical maneuver used to trap an opponent's Bishop by advancing one or more pawns in a way that limits the Bishop's mobility and eventually traps it. This trap often appears in some variations of the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian openings (Black usually traps White's Bishop on the b3 square).
In the diagram above, White plays 1.b4 to start the Noah's Ark maneuver and take advantage of the unfortunate position of Black's Queen. After Black moves the Queen to safety, White continues with 2.c5, trapping the Black Bishop on b6.
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Master the Noah's Ark Maneuver
When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Noah's Ark Maneuver. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this technique.
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Noah's Ark TRAP | Chess Tricks to WIN Fast
Get to know the Noah’s Ark Trap in less than 60 seconds in this fast-paced YouTube short by the excellent Chess Talk channel.
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Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Noah's Ark Trap
This nice video by The Chess Giant is a fun introduction to this famous trap. Rich with details and moments of humor. Highly recommended.
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Basic Opening Chess Trap | Noah Ark's Trap | Was Dad's advice wrong?
In this exhilarating video by ChessBase India, much-beloved IM Sagar Shah tells the tale of a young chess player who fell to Noah’s Trap despite having followed all of his father's advice. Instructive on many levels.
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Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps*
This book by the famous coach Bruce Pandolfini (Searching for Bobby Fischer, The Queen's Gambit, etc.) is full of spectacular opening traps, including the Noah’s Ark trap. Have fun with it!
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1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners*
A very well curated selection of tactical exercises by Franco Masetti & Roberto Messa. Perfect for beginners who already know the basics and want to get better in a “guided” way.