Final position — White is winning
Scandinavian Defence: Wins a Piece
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Abrahams - Crothers, Oxford 1925)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | d5 |
| 2. | exd5 | Qxd5 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Qa5 |
| 4. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Bd2 | Nc6 |
| 6. | Bb5 | Bd7 |
| 7. | Nd5 | Nb4 |
| 8. | Bxb4 |
How the Scandinavian Defence: Wins a Piece works
The Scandinavian Defence: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Scandinavian Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.Nd5 Nb4 8.Bxb4. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — Black walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Abrahams - Crothers, Oxford 1925). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Scandinavian Defence: Wins a Piece in the Trapsterapp to play it out on a live board, drill it in practice mode, and learn how to avoid it when it's set for you — along with the full library of chess traps and gambits, fully offline.