Final position — White is winning
Old Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Van der Heiden–Salam)
White wins in 9 moves with a decisive material gain. (Van der Heiden - Salam, 1978)
The moves
| 1. | d4 | Nf6 |
| 2. | c4 | d6 |
| 3. | Nc3 | Nbd7 |
| 4. | e4 | g6 |
| 5. | f4 | c5 |
| 6. | d5 | Qa5 |
| 7. | Bd2 | Nb6 |
| 8. | Nb5 | Qa4 |
| 9. | b3 |
How the Old Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Van der Heiden–Salam) works
The Old Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Van der Heiden–Salam) is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Old Indian Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 9, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.e4 g6 5.f4 c5 6.d5 Qa5 7.Bd2 Nb6 8.Nb5 Qa4 9.b3. 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 (Van der Heiden - Salam, 1978). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Old Indian Defence: Opening Trap (Van der Heiden–Salam) 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.