Final position — White is winning
Petroff's Defence: Opening Trap
White wins in 6 moves with a decisive material gain. (Wall - Ortiz, Palo Alto 1989)
The moves
| 1. | e4 | e5 |
| 2. | Nf3 | Nf6 |
| 3. | Nxe5 | Nxe4 |
| 4. | Qe2 | d5 |
| 5. | d3 | Ng5 |
| 6. | Nc6+ |
How the Petroff's Defence: Opening Trap works
The Petroff's Defence: Opening Trap is a classic chess opening trap arising from the Petroff's Defence. In this line White wins decisive material by move 6, punishing a natural-looking but losing idea from Black.
The full sequence runs 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4 4.Qe2 d5 5.d3 Ng5 6.Nc6+. 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 (Wall - Ortiz, Palo Alto 1989). Recognising it early lets you either spring it as White or sidestep it as Black.
Practice this trap move-by-move
Open the Petroff's Defence: 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.