Final position — White is winning
Philidor's Defence: Wins a Pawn
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Karaklajic - Fuderer, Yugoslavia 1955)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | Nd7 |
| 4. | Bc4 | Be7 |
| 5. | dxe5 | Nxe5 |
| 6. | Nxe5 | dxe5 |
| 7. | Qh5 | g6 |
| 8. | Qxe5 |
How the Philidor's Defence: Wins a Pawn works
The Philidor's Defence: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 Be7 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Qh5 g6 8.Qxe5. 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 (Karaklajic - Fuderer, Yugoslavia 1955). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Philidor'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.