Final position — White is winning
Queen's Gambit Declined, 4.Bg5: Opening Trap
White wins in 8 moves with a decisive material gain. (Velunkova - Gunko, 2003.??.??)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | d5 |
| 2. | c4 | e6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Nf6 |
| 4. | Bg5 | Be7 |
| 5. | e3 | Nbd7 |
| 6. | Bxf6 | Nxf6 |
| 7. | Bd3 | Bb4 |
| 8. | Qa4+ |
How the Queen's Gambit Declined, 4.Bg5: Opening Trap works
The Queen's Gambit Declined, 4.Bg5: Opening Trap is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Queen's Gambit Declined, 4.Bg5. In this line White wins decisive material by move 8, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bxf6 Nxf6 7.Bd3 Bb4 8.Qa4+. 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 (Velunkova - Gunko, 2003.??.??). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Queen's Gambit Declined, 4.Bg5: Opening Trap 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.