Final position — White is winning
Polish Opening: Wins a Piece
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall -Carradore, San Antonio 1995)
The moves
| 1. | b4 | e5 |
| 2. | Bb2 | d6 |
| 3. | c4 | Nc6 |
| 4. | a3 | f6 |
| 5. | Nf3 | g5 |
| 6. | e3 | h5 |
| 7. | Be2 | e4 |
| 8. | Nxg5 | fxg5 |
| 9. | Bxh8 |
How the Polish Opening: Wins a Piece works
The Polish Opening: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Polish Opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.c4 Nc6 4.a3 f6 5.Nf3 g5 6.e3 h5 7.Be2 e4 8.Nxg5 fxg5 9.Bxh8. 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 -Carradore, San Antonio 1995). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Polish Opening: 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.