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Final position — White is winning

King's gambit

King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Tagnon–Jojic)

White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Tagnon - Jojic, 1985.??.??)

The moves

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3 Nf6 5.dxe4 Nxe4 6.Nf3 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bc5 8.Qa4+
1.e4e5
2.f4d5
3.exd5e4
4.d3Nf6
5.dxe4Nxe4
6.Nf3Bb4+
7.c3Bc5
8.Qa4+

How the King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Tagnon–Jojic) works

The King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Tagnon–Jojic) 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.dxe4 Nxe4 6.Nf3 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bc5 8.Qa4+. 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 (Tagnon - Jojic, 1985.??.??). 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 (Tagnon–Jojic) 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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