Final position — White is winning
Philidor's Defence: Wins a Piece
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall - Bigbluesmurf, Internet 1996)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | f6 |
| 4. | Bc4 | Bd7 |
| 5. | dxe5 | dxe5 |
| 6. | Nxe5 | fxe5 |
| 7. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 8. | Qxe5+ | Ne7 |
| 9. | Qxh8 |
How the Philidor's Defence: Wins a Piece works
The Philidor's Defence: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.Bc4 Bd7 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Nxe5 fxe5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxe5+ Ne7 9.Qxh8. 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 (Wall - Bigbluesmurf, Internet 1996). 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 Piece 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.