Scott, Lewis – Scarpa, Mario

Scott, Lewis
Scarpa, Mario (1334)
Result: 0-1

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Date: 16 September 2025
Location: Crewe Chess Club
Tournament: 2025/26 Club Championship Div 3
Round: 3.1.1
Opening: C44 King's Knight/Ponziani/Scotch/Göring
Submitted by:
Published on: 17 September 2025
Categories: game

[Event "2025/26 Club Championship Div 3"]
[Site "Crewe Chess Club"]
[Date "2025.09.16"]
[Round "3.1.1"]
[White "Scott, Lewis"]
[Black "Scarpa, Mario"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1334"]
[ECO "C44"]
[EventDate "2025.09.16"]
[WhiteElo "0000"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 Nxe4 6.dxe5 Bc5 7.Qe2 Nxf2 {White is not going to exchange the Queen for a Knight and Bishop, so Black might as well take that pawn... and if White does echange, so much the better.}8.Rf1 Ng4 9.h3 Ngxe5 {Now the Knight is lost regardless, it might as well take someone else with him. It has to be the pawn in g5 because the potential en-passant is stopping the black Queen's pawn from moving to d5, which would block the white Bishop (while freeing the white one).}10.Nxe5 {Now the immense pressure on f7 is making itself manifest. Nxe5 would imply Qxg5+ on top of the already piling pressure. Not taking the Knight in e5 would imply Nxc6+, which is a discovery check, and then Nxd8. So White decides to castle}10...O-O 11.Bxh6 d5 {gxh6 is tempting but also very dangerous... it's better to deflate the pressure first.}12.Nd2 {This opens a new whole perspective. if dxc4 then Ndxc4, which doubles the white Knights. Black also notices the potential for Qh4+, which would fork both the Bishop in h6 and whatever is in c4... but not if the white Knight is in e5. So it has to go.}12...Nxe5 13.Qxe5 {White is now aiming at Qxg7# and Black, while worrying about it, notices White's blunder, which completely changes the balance.}13...Re8 14.Bf4 Rxe5+ 15.Bxe5 dxc4 16.O-O-O Qg5 17.Bf4 Qxg2 18.h4 {Trying to save the h-file pawn gives way to the black Bishop and subsequent attack on the white Rook.}18...Bg4 19.Rde1 Bf2 20.Bxc7 Bxe1 21.Rxe1 Rc8 22.Be5 Re8 23.Nxc4 Qf2 24.Re4 Qf1+ {And from now on, Black plays cat and mouse.}25.Kd2 Qd1+ 26.Ke3 Qe2+ 27.Kd4 Rd8+ 28.Nd6 Qd2+ 29.Kc4 Be6+ 30.Kb4 Qxb2+ 31.Kc5 Qb6# 0-1