Final position — White is winning
Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Roesch–Ruessel)
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Roesch - Ruessel, Baden Baden 1990)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | Nc3 | e5 |
| 3. | dxe5 | Ng4 |
| 4. | Nf3 | Bc5 |
| 5. | Ne4 | Bb4+ |
| 6. | c3 | Ba5 |
| 7. | h3 | Nh6 |
| 8. | Bg5 | f6 |
| 9. | exf6 |
How the Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Roesch–Ruessel) works
The Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Roesch–Ruessel) 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 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.Ne4 Bb4+ 6.c3 Ba5 7.h3 Nh6 8.Bg5 f6 9.exf6. 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 (Roesch - Ruessel, Baden Baden 1990). 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: Wins a Pawn (Roesch–Ruessel) 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.