Final position — White is winning
King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Babaev–Moskoviev)
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Babaev - Moskoviev, 1988.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | d5 |
| 3. | exd5 | e4 |
| 4. | d3 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Qe2 | Bf5 |
| 6. | dxe4 | Bxe4 |
| 7. | Nc3 | Bb4 |
| 8. | Qb5+ |
How the King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Babaev–Moskoviev) works
The King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Babaev–Moskoviev) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3 Nf6 5.Qe2 Bf5 6.dxe4 Bxe4 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Qb5+. 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 (Babaev - Moskoviev, 1988.??.??). 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 (Babaev–Moskoviev) 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.