Final position — White is winning
Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Pennell–Wall)
White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Pennell - Wall, North Carolina 1975)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | d4 | Nxe4 |
| 4. | Nxe5 | d5 |
| 5. | Qf3 | Be6 |
| 6. | Bd3 | Bd6 |
| 7. | Bxe4 | dxe4 |
| 8. | Qxe4 | Bxe5 |
| 9. | Qxb7 | Bxd4 |
| 10. | Qxa8 | Bd5 |
How the Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Pennell–Wall) works
The Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Pennell–Wall) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Petrov's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Nxe5 d5 5.Qf3 Be6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.Bxe4 dxe4 8.Qxe4 Bxe5 9.Qxb7 Bxd4 10.Qxa8 Bd5. 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 (Pennell - Wall, 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 Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Pennell–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.