Final position — White is winning
Opening Trap (Havenaar–Von Saldern)
White wins in 7 moves with a decisive material gain. (Havenaar - Von Saldern, 2001.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | Nc3 | d5 |
| 2. | e4 | dxe4 |
| 3. | Nxe4 | e5 |
| 4. | Bc4 | Bf5 |
| 5. | Qf3 | Bg6 |
| 6. | Ng5 | Nf6 |
| 7. | Qb3 |
How the Opening Trap (Havenaar–Von Saldern) works
The Opening Trap (Havenaar–Von Saldern) is a classic chess opening trap. In this line White wins decisive material by move 7, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 e5 4.Bc4 Bf5 5.Qf3 Bg6 6.Ng5 Nf6 7.Qb3. 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 (Havenaar - Von Saldern, 2001.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Opening Trap (Havenaar–Von Saldern) 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.