Final position — White is winning
Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Buchanan–Rojas)
White wins in 6 moves with a decisive material gain. (Buchanan - Rojas, 1982.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | c4 | e6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | b6 |
| 4. | e4 | Bb4 |
| 5. | Bd3 | d6 |
| 6. | Qa4+ |
How the Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Buchanan–Rojas) works
The Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Buchanan–Rojas) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn game. In this line White wins decisive material by move 6, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 b6 4.e4 Bb4 5.Bd3 d6 6.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 (Buchanan - Rojas, 1982.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Buchanan–Rojas) 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.