Final position — White is winning
Polish Opening: Wins a Piece (Wall–Hatherill)
White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall - Hatherill, Dayton 1980)
The moves
| 1. | b4 | e5 |
| 2. | Bb2 | f6 |
| 3. | b5 | a6 |
| 4. | bxa6 | bxa6 |
| 5. | e3 | Bc5 |
| 6. | Bc4 | d5 |
| 7. | Bb3 | d4 |
| 8. | exd4 | exd4 |
| 9. | Qh5+ | g6 |
| 10. | Qxc5 |
How the Polish Opening: Wins a Piece (Wall–Hatherill) works
The Polish Opening: Wins a Piece (Wall–Hatherill) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Polish Opening. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 f6 3.b5 a6 4.bxa6 bxa6 5.e3 Bc5 6.Bc4 d5 7.Bb3 d4 8.exd4 exd4 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qxc5. 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 - Hatherill, Dayton 1980). 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 (Wall–Hatherill) 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.