Scarpa, Mario – Jones, Neville S

Scarpa, Mario (1355)
Jones, Neville S (1505)
Result: 0-1

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Date: 3 March 2026
Location: Crewe Chess Club
Tournament: 2025/2026 League Season NSDCA Division 3
Round: 1.1.4
Opening: B20 Sicilian, including Smith-Morra Gambit
Submitted by:
Published on: 4 March 2026
Categories: game

[Event "2025/2026 League Season NSDCA Division 3"]
[Site "Crewe Chess Club"]
[Date "2026.03.03"]
[Round "1.1.4"]
[White "Scarpa, Mario"]
[Black "Jones, Neville S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1505"]
[BlackTeam "Alsager 'C'"]
[ECO "B20"]
[EventDate "2026.03.03"]
[WhiteElo "1355"]
[WhiteTeam "Crewe 'G'"]

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3 d6 {White decides to disrupt the centre, eventually gaining control with the Queen after all exchanges.}5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 Nf6 8.e5 {White plans to exchange Queens, forcing the black King to move before castling.}8...Ng8 {Unexpected: the pawn in d6 is there for the taking but first but first it needs to be separated from the black Queen's protective reach.}9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.exd6 a6 11.Bxd7+ Qxd7 12.Bf4 {Adding pressure on d6}12...Rc8 13.O-O-O {More pressure on d6...}13...f6 14.Rhe1 {This pins the pawn in e-file, lest it forks Queen and Bishop}14...Rd8 15.Qd5 Kf7 16.Qb3 Rc8 17.h4 {Blocking ...g5}17...Nh6 18.f3 {Blocking Ng4}18...Nf5 19.Ne4 b5 20.h5 Rc4 21.Be3 Nxe3 22.Qxe3 Qc6 23.Nc5 $4 {This is the blunder that takes down everything. A better move would have been 23.Ng5+ and it would have been checkmate shortly after.}23...e5 24.b3 {This second blunder is the final nail in the coffin for White.}24...Rxc5 25.Qd3 Ke6 26.g4 Bxd6 27.Qf5+ Kf7 28.g5 Rc8 29.g6+ Kg8 30.gxh7+ Kh8 31.Re2 Bf8 32.Qg6 Rd5 {Here White concentrate on the Rook's confrontation and does not see the threat of Ba3... not that it would have made a massive difference anyway.}33.Rh1 Ba3+ 34.Kb1 Qc3 {The rest is useless... the only hope is a blunder by Black, which is very unlikely.}35.Qxg7+ Kxg7 36.Rg2+ Kxh7 37.Rg7+ Kxg7 38.h6+ Kh7 {White resigns} 0-1