Final position — White is winning
Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Revelle–Cornell)
White wins in 11 moves with a decisive material gain. (Revelle - Cornell, 1997.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | Nxe5 | d6 |
| 4. | Nf3 | Nxe4 |
| 5. | d4 | Qe7 |
| 6. | Be2 | Bg4 |
| 7. | O-O | Nd7 |
| 8. | Re1 | O-O-O |
| 9. | Nfd2 | f5 |
| 10. | Bxg4 | fxg4 |
| 11. | Nxe4 |
How the Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Revelle–Cornell) works
The Petrov's Defence: Wins a Piece (Revelle–Cornell) 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.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Qe7 6.Be2 Bg4 7.O-O Nd7 8.Re1 O-O-O 9.Nfd2 f5 10.Bxg4 fxg4 11.Nxe4. 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 (Revelle - Cornell, 1997.??.??). 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 (Revelle–Cornell) 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.