Final position — White is winning
English Opening: Wins a Pawn
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Brooks, R. - Wall, Bill, 1974.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | c4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | Nc3 | d5 |
| 3. | cxd5 | Nxd5 |
| 4. | g3 | Nxc3 |
| 5. | bxc3 | e6 |
| 6. | Bg2 | Be7 |
| 7. | Rb1 | O-O |
| 8. | Bxb7 | Bxb7 |
| 9. | Rxb7 | Qd5 |
How the English Opening: Wins a Pawn works
The English Opening: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the English Opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3 Nxc3 5.bxc3 e6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.Rb1 O-O 8.Bxb7 Bxb7 9.Rxb7 Qd5. 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 (Brooks, R. - Wall, Bill, 1974.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the English Opening: 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.