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Final position — White is winning

Queen's pawn game

Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Tarrasch–Schwartz)

White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Tarrasch - Schwartz, 1890.??.??)

The moves

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.c4 e6 4.Qb3 b6 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.e3 Bd6 7.cxd5 Bxe5 8.dxe5 Nxd5 9.Qa4+
1.d4d5
2.Nf3Bg4
3.c4e6
4.Qb3b6
5.Ne5Nf6
6.e3Bd6
7.cxd5Bxe5
8.dxe5Nxd5
9.Qa4+

How the Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Tarrasch–Schwartz) works

The Queen's Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Tarrasch–Schwartz) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn game. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.

The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.c4 e6 4.Qb3 b6 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.e3 Bd6 7.cxd5 Bxe5 8.dxe5 Nxd5 9.Qa4+. 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 (Tarrasch - Schwartz, 1890.??.??). 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 Pawn Game: Opening Trap (Tarrasch–Schwartz) 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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