Final position — Black is winning
Grunfeld Defence: Wins a Pawn
Black wins in 12 moves with a decisive material gain. (Polovodin - Maslov, USSR 1984)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | c4 | g6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | d5 |
| 4. | cxd5 | Nxd5 |
| 5. | e4 | Nxc3 |
| 6. | bxc3 | Bg7 |
| 7. | Nf3 | c5 |
| 8. | Rb1 | Qa5 |
| 9. | Rb5 | Qxc3+ |
| 10. | Bd2 | Qa3 |
| 11. | Qc2 | Nc6 |
| 12. | Rb3 |
How the Grunfeld Defence: Wins a Pawn works
The Grunfeld Defence: Wins a Pawn is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Grunfeld Defence. In this line Black wins decisive material by move 12, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from White.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 Qa5 9.Rb5 Qxc3+ 10.Bd2 Qa3 11.Qc2 Nc6 12.Rb3. Each move looks reasonable, which is exactly why the trap is so effective over the board — White walks into it while trying to play "normal" developing moves.
This pattern is well known from master and correspondence play (Polovodin - Maslov, USSR 1984). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as Black or sidestep it as White.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Grunfeld Defence: Wins a Pawn 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.