Final position — White is winning
Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Halics–Lanz)
White wins in 5 moves with a decisive material gain. (Halics - Lanz, 1932.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | Nf3 | c5 |
| 3. | Bf4 | cxd4 |
| 4. | Nxd4 | e5 |
| 5. | Bxe5 | Qa5+ |
How the Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Halics–Lanz) works
The Queen's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Halics–Lanz) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's pawn game. In this line White wins decisive material by move 5, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.Bf4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Bxe5 Qa5+. 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 (Halics - Lanz, 1932.??.??). 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 (Halics–Lanz) 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.