Final position — White is winning
Wins a Pawn (Wall–Shirley)
White wins in 5 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall - Shirley, Dayton 1981)
The moves
| 1. | g4 | e5 |
| 2. | Bg2 | d6 |
| 3. | h3 | f5 |
| 4. | gxf5 | Bxf5 |
| 5. | Bxb7 |
How the Wins a Pawn (Wall–Shirley) works
The Wins a Pawn (Wall–Shirley) is a classic chess opening trap. In this line White wins decisive material by move 5, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.g4 e5 2.Bg2 d6 3.h3 f5 4.gxf5 Bxf5 5.Bxb7. 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 (Wall - Shirley, Dayton 1981). 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 (Wall–Shirley) 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.