Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Elephant Trap

Queen’s pawn openings are usually more positional and peaceful than its counterparts beginning with king’s pawn. Nevertheless, inaccuracies there can also be found. In the present case of Queen’s Gambit Declined, black sets a trap offering a pawn. If white goes for it, the punishment comes immediately.

The name for this trap suits its effect because, with a single pawn as a bait, the reward is substantial. And it has the bonus of taking both queens out of the board. The trap could have been avoided if white moderates the impelling of greediness and doesn’t take the offered pawn on d5.