Final position — White is winning
Nimzo-Indian Defence: Wins a Pawn (Foley–Wall)
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Foley - Wall, Dayton 1982)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | c4 | e6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Bb4 |
| 4. | Qb3 | Qe7 |
| 5. | a3 | Bxc3+ |
| 6. | Qxc3 | Ne4 |
| 7. | Qc2 | d5 |
| 8. | b3 | c5 |
| 9. | dxc5 | Qf6 |
How the Nimzo-Indian Defence: Wins a Pawn (Foley–Wall) works
The Nimzo-Indian Defence: Wins a Pawn (Foley–Wall) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Nimzo-Indian Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qb3 Qe7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 d5 8.b3 c5 9.dxc5 Qf6. 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 (Foley - Wall, 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 Nimzo-Indian Defence: Wins a Pawn (Foley–Wall) 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.