Final position — White is winning
King's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Krumm–Mattern)
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Krumm - Mattern, Germany 1991)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nc6 |
| 3. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 4. | d5 | Ne7 |
| 5. | Nxe5 | d6 |
| 6. | Bb5+ | c6 |
| 7. | dxc6 | Qa5+ |
| 8. | Nc3 |
How the King's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Krumm–Mattern) works
The King's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Krumm–Mattern) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the King's pawn game. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Nf6 4.d5 Ne7 5.Nxe5 d6 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 Qa5+ 8.Nc3. 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 (Krumm - Mattern, Germany 1991). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the King's Pawn Game: Wins a Pawn (Krumm–Mattern) 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.