Final position — White is winning
Nimzo-Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Timman–Cosulich)
White wins in 7 moves with a decisive material gain. (Timman - Cosulich, 1974.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | c4 | e6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Bb4 |
| 4. | e3 | b6 |
| 5. | Ne2 | Ba6 |
| 6. | Ng3 | d5 |
| 7. | Qa4+ |
How the Nimzo-Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Timman–Cosulich) works
The Nimzo-Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Timman–Cosulich) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Nimzo-Indian Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6 6.Ng3 d5 7.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 (Timman - Cosulich, 1974.??.??). 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: Opening Trap (Timman–Cosulich) 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.