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Final position — White is winning

Chess Opening

Wins a Pawn

White wins in 11 moves with a decisive material gain. (Myers - Meifert, 1955.??.??)

The moves

1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 e5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Be7 7.Bc4 Nh6 8.d3 g5 9.Qh5 Ng8 10.Qxf7+ Kd7 11.Nc5+
1.Nc3d5
2.e4dxe4
3.Nxe4e5
4.Nf3Bg4
5.h3Bxf3
6.Qxf3Be7
7.Bc4Nh6
8.d3g5
9.Qh5Ng8
10.Qxf7+Kd7
11.Nc5+

How the Wins a Pawn works

The Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap. In this line White wins decisive material by move 11, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 e5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Be7 7.Bc4 Nh6 8.d3 g5 9.Qh5 Ng8 10.Qxf7+ Kd7 11.Nc5+. 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 (Myers - Meifert, 1955.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the Wins a Pawn 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.

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