abcdefgh

Final position — Black is winning

Queen's pawn

Queen's Pawn: Opening Trap (Schatzle–Batchis)

Black wins in 6 moves with a decisive material gain. (Schatzle - Batchis, 1987.??.??)

The moves

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Qd2 Qxb2 6.Qc3 Bb4
1.d4e5
2.dxe5Nc6
3.Nf3Qe7
4.Bf4Qb4+
5.Qd2Qxb2
6.Qc3Bb4

How the Queen's Pawn: Opening Trap (Schatzle–Batchis) works

The Queen's Pawn: Opening Trap (Schatzle–Batchis) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn. In this line Black wins decisive material by move 6, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from White.

The full sequence runs 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Qd2 Qxb2 6.Qc3 Bb4. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — White walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.

This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Schatzle - Batchis, 1987.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as Black or sidestep it as White.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the Queen's Pawn: Opening Trap (Schatzle–Batchis) 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.

More Queen's pawn traps

← Browse all chess traps