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Final position — White is winning

Robatsch Defence

The Pawn wins the Knight

White wins in 10 moves with a decisive material gain. (50 Opening Traps,Part 1 - The Pawn wins the Knight - B07 - https://lichess.org/@/CHESSLUCAFD)

The moves

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Bd3 O-O 6.O-O c5 7.h3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Re1 e5 10.b4
1.e4g6
2.d4Bg7
3.Nf3d6
4.c3Nf6
5.Bd3O-O
6.O-Oc5
7.h3Nc6
8.d5Na5
9.Re1e5
10.b4

How the The Pawn wins the Knight works

The The Pawn wins the Knight is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Robatsch 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 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Bd3 O-O 6.O-O c5 7.h3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Re1 e5 10.b4. 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 (50 Opening Traps,Part 1 - The Pawn wins the Knight - B07 - https://lichess.org/@/CHESSLUCAFD). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.

Practice this trap move-by-move

Open the The Pawn wins the Knight 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.

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