Final position — Black is winning
Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Pawn
Black wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Russ - Zeh, Postal 1974)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | Nc3 | d5 |
| 3. | e5 | Nfd7 |
| 4. | e6 | fxe6 |
| 5. | d4 | c5 |
| 6. | Nf3 | Nc6 |
| 7. | dxc5 | Nxc5 |
| 8. | Bb5 | g6 |
| 9. | Qd4 |
How the Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Pawn works
The Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Alekhine's defence. In this line Black wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from White.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 Nfd7 4.e6 fxe6 5.d4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.dxc5 Nxc5 8.Bb5 g6 9.Qd4. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — White walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Russ - Zeh, Postal 1974). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as Black or sidestep it as White.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Alekhine's Defence: 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.