Final position — White is winning
Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Piece
White wins in 7 moves with a decisive material gain. (Eckley - Knudsen, Iowa 1972)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | e5 | Nd5 |
| 3. | c4 | Nb6 |
| 4. | c5 | Nd5 |
| 5. | Bc4 | Nb4 |
| 6. | Qb3 | e6 |
| 7. | Qxb4 |
How the Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Piece works
The Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Alekhine's defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5 Nd5 5.Bc4 Nb4 6.Qb3 e6 7.Qxb4. 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 (Eckley - Knudsen, Iowa 1972). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Alekhine's Defence: Wins a Piece 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.