The Elephant Trap is the classic refutation of a greedy pawn grab in the Queen's Gambit Declined. White, seeing the f6-knight 'pinned' to the black queen by the g5-bishop, snatches the d5-pawn — and loses a whole piece to a small in-between check. It's one of the first traps every QGD player learns, from both sides.
In the QGD, if White breaks with cxd5 exd5 and then plays Nxd5?? thinking the f6-knight is pinned, Black plays Nxd5!, and after Bxd8 the zwischenzug Bb4+! wins the bishop back with interest — Black ends a clean piece up.
After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 the knight on d7 quietly sets the trap. White exchanges 5.cxd5 exd5 and then plays 6.Nxd5??, reasoning that the f6-knight can't recapture because it's pinned to the queen by the bishop on g5. But the pin is the whole illusion: 6…Nxd5! is fine. After 7.Bxd8 Black ignores the queen and plays the in-between check 7…Bb4+!. White must block with 8.Qd2 (interposing the queen), and after 8…Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 the dust settles with Black a clean minor piece ahead — Black has given up the queen but taken bishop, knight, and queen back in the exchange.
6. Nxd5 — 6.Nxd5?? (ply 11) is the losing move. It looks like it just wins a pawn off a pinned knight, but the pin doesn't hold once the …Bb4+ resource appears. The safe path is simply not to grab the pawn — White should develop with 6.e3 or 6.Nf3 and keep an ordinary, equal QGD position.
White avoids the Elephant Trap by not being greedy: don't capture on d5 with the knight while the bishop sits on g5, because the 'pin' can be broken by a check on b4. The honest lesson is that a pin is only as strong as the squares around it — here the b4–e1 diagonal gives Black the zwischenzug that turns the tables, so White should just complete development.
Because after 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.Bxd8, Black doesn't have to recapture the queen immediately — the zwischenzug 7…Bb4+ forces 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2, and only then 9…Kxd8. Black comes out a clean piece up, so the 'pin' never actually wins material.
Just develop. 6.e3 or 6.Nf3 keeps a normal Queen's Gambit Declined where White is comfortable and equal. The pawn on d5 isn't really hanging, so there's nothing to grab.
A trap only works if your opponent makes the mistake — strong players sidestep these, which is why each page also shows how to avoid it. Every line here is checked legal with the same engine the board runs, and every checkmate is verified.