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Final position — White is winning

Polish Opening

Polish Opening: Bxg7 Sacrifice

White wins in 5 moves with a decisive material gain. (Goudreau - Summers, 1996)

The moves

1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 e4 3.e3 d5 4.Ne2 Bxb4 5.Bxg7
1.b4e5
2.Bb2e4
3.e3d5
4.Ne2Bxb4
5.Bxg7

How the Polish Opening: Bxg7 Sacrifice works

The Polish Opening: Bxg7 Sacrifice is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Polish Opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 5, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 e4 3.e3 d5 4.Ne2 Bxb4 5.Bxg7. 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 (Goudreau - Summers, 1996). 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: Bxg7 Sacrifice 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.

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