Final position — White is winning
King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Burk–Walthour)
White wins in 5 moves with a decisive material gain. (Burk - Walthour, Dayton 1982)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | f4 | f6 |
| 3. | fxe5 | fxe5 |
| 4. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 5. | Qxe5+ |
How the King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Burk–Walthour) works
The King's Gambit: Wins a Pawn (Burk–Walthour) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 5, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.f4 f6 3.fxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Qxe5+. 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 (Burk - Walthour, Dayton 1982). 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 (Burk–Walthour) 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.