Final position — White is winning
Sicilian Defence: Opening Trap (Sandmer–Wimmer)
White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (Sandmer - Wimmer, 1996.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | c5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | cxd4 |
| 4. | Nxd4 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Nc3 | a6 |
| 6. | Bg5 | Qb6 |
| 7. | Nb3 | Qb4 |
| 8. | Bd3 | h6 |
| 9. | Be3 | d5 |
| 10. | Bc5 |
How the Sicilian Defence: Opening Trap (Sandmer–Wimmer) works
The Sicilian Defence: Opening Trap (Sandmer–Wimmer) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Sicilian Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 10, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Qb6 7.Nb3 Qb4 8.Bd3 h6 9.Be3 d5 10.Bc5. 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 (Sandmer - Wimmer, 1996.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Sicilian Defence: Opening Trap (Sandmer–Wimmer) 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.