Final position — White is winning
Sicilian Defence: Wins a Piece
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Rahn - Rellstab, Germany 1941)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | c5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | d6 |
| 3. | d4 | cxd4 |
| 4. | Nxd4 | Nf6 |
| 5. | Nc3 | g6 |
| 6. | Be3 | Ng4 |
| 7. | Bb5+ | Bd7 |
| 8. | Qxg4 |
How the Sicilian Defence: Wins a Piece works
The Sicilian Defence: Wins a Piece is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Sicilian Defence. 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 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Qxg4. 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 (Rahn - Rellstab, Germany 1941). 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: 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.