abcdefgh

Final position — White is winning

Queen's Gambit

Queen's Gambit: Wins a Pawn

White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Krejcik - Reti, 1922.??.??)

The moves

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 Ng4 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Qe7 7.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 Qc5 9.e3 O-O 10.b4
1.d4d5
2.c4Nf6
3.Nc3e5
4.dxe5Ng4
5.Nf3Bb4
6.Bd2Qe7
7.Nxd5Bxd2+
8.Qxd2Qc5
9.e3O-O
10.b4

How the Queen's Gambit: Wins a Pawn works

The Queen's Gambit: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's Gambit. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 Ng4 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Qe7 7.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 Qc5 9.e3 O-O 10.b4. 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 (Krejcik - Reti, 1922.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the Queen's Gambit: Wins a Pawn 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.

More Queen's Gambit traps

← Browse all chess traps