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Final position — White is winning

King's gambit

King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn

White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Salomon - M. Brown, Internet 1996)

The moves

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 Nf6 5.Nf3 Qh5 6.Qe1 b5 7.e5 Ng4 8.Qe4 c6 9.Bxb5 d5 10.exd6+
1.e4e5
2.f4exf4
3.Bc4Qh4+
4.Kf1Nf6
5.Nf3Qh5
6.Qe1b5
7.e5Ng4
8.Qe4c6
9.Bxb5d5
10.exd6+

How the King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn works

The King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 Nf6 5.Nf3 Qh5 6.Qe1 b5 7.e5 Ng4 8.Qe4 c6 9.Bxb5 d5 10.exd6+. 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 (Salomon - M. Brown, Internet 1996). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the King's Gambit: 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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