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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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