Final position — White is winning
Philidor's Defence: White Queen Trap
White wins in 7 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall, Bill - Seaboy, 1996.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | Bg4 |
| 4. | dxe5 | dxe5 |
| 5. | Qxd8+ | Kxd8 |
| 6. | Nxe5 | Nh6 |
| 7. | Bxh6 |
How the Philidor's Defence: White Queen Trap works
The Philidor's Defence: White Queen Trap is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Philidor's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 Nh6 7.Bxh6. 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, Bill - Seaboy, 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: White Queen Trap 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.