Final position — White is winning
Petrov's Defence: Wins a Pawn
White wins in 11 moves with a decisive material gain. (Fischer - Chalkner, Houston 1964)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | d4 | exd4 |
| 4. | e5 | Ne4 |
| 5. | Qe2 | Bb4+ |
| 6. | Kd1 | Nc5 |
| 7. | Bg5 | d3 |
| 8. | cxd3 | f6 |
| 9. | exf6+ | Kf7 |
| 10. | Ne5+ | Ke6 |
| 11. | Nc6+ |
How the Petrov's Defence: Wins a Pawn works
The Petrov's Defence: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Petrov's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 11, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qe2 Bb4+ 6.Kd1 Nc5 7.Bg5 d3 8.cxd3 f6 9.exf6+ Kf7 10.Ne5+ Ke6 11.Nc6+. 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 (Fischer - Chalkner, Houston 1964). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Petrov's Defence: Wins a Pawn 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.