Final position — White is winning
Nimzovich-Larsen Attack: Wins a Piece
White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall - Johnson, North Carolina 1975)
The moves
| 1. | b3 | d5 |
| 2. | Bb2 | e6 |
| 3. | c4 | Nf6 |
| 4. | Nf3 | Bd6 |
| 5. | e3 | O-O |
| 6. | Be2 | c6 |
| 7. | O-O | b6 |
| 8. | Qc2 | Bb7 |
| 9. | Ng5 | h6 |
| 10. | Bxf6 |
How the Nimzovich-Larsen Attack: Wins a Piece works
The Nimzovich-Larsen Attack: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Nimzovich-Larsen Attack. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2 c6 7.O-O b6 8.Qc2 Bb7 9.Ng5 h6 10.Bxf6. 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 - Johnson, North Carolina 1975). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Nimzovich-Larsen Attack: Wins a Piece 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.