Scarpa, Mario – Grocott, Philip Scarpa, Mario (1354) Grocott, Philip (1292) Result: 1-0 Metadata » Click to open. Date: 28 January 2025 Location: Crewe Chess Club Tournament: Friendly rated Round: Opening: B12 Caro-Kann Submitted by: Published on: 28 January 2025 [Event "Friendly rated"] [Site "Crewe Chess Club"] [Date "2025.01.28"] [White "Scarpa, Mario"] [Black "Grocott, Philip"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1292"] [ECO "B12"] [EventDate "2025.01.28"] [WhiteElo "1354"] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Bb5+ Nc6 5.Bxc6+ {As the wiseman says, an exchange is well worth it, if it causes disruption in the enemy ranks.}5...bxc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 e6 8.Nbd2 Qb6 9.Qc1 c4 10.c3 a5 11.b3 {White realises that everything is getting stuck and tries to free some squares through exchanges.}11...Rb8 12.bxc4 Qb2 13.c5 {This blocks the Bishop... above all, Ba3}13...Qxc1+ 14.Rxc1 Ne7 15.O-O Bf5 16.c4 {White hopes in dxc4 followed by Nxc4, threatening Nxa4 as well as Nd6+ forcing the King to move.}16...Ng6 {...and this forces a change of strategy.}17.cxd5 exd5 {The road for the pawn in e5 is now paved.}18.Nb3 Rb5 19.Bd2 a4 20.Na5 Kd7 21.Ng5 {Remembering Julius Caesar's Gallic wars, White decides to put it into practice by ordering the cavalry to outflank Black on both sides.}21...Be7 22.Nxf7 Rhb8 23.a3 h6 {At this point, White fears Bg5 forcing Bishops to exchange and then Rxa5.}24.Bb4 Nf4 25.Nd6 {The idea is to force an exchange resulting in the e-file to be free for the Rook to advance... completely oblivious of the fork Ne2+}25...Bxd6 26.exd6 Nd3 27.Rc3 Nxb4 28.axb4 Rxb4 29.Re3 Be6 30.Nxc6 Kxc6 31.Rxe6 Rb1 32.Re7 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 a3 34.Rc7+ Kb5 35.d7 a2 36.Ra7 Kc6 37.Rxa2 {No point trying anything else, White is three pawns up and can afford to lose d7 if that means getting rid of the danger of a2}37...Kxd7 38.Ra7+ Kc6 39.Rxg7 Rb1+ 40.Ke2 Rb2+ 41.Ke3 Rb3+ 42.Kd2 Rb2+ {Black is tryingn to force a draw by repetition, which White wants to avoid.}43.Kc3 Rxf2 44.Rg6+ Kc7 45.Rxh6 Rxg2 46.Rh7+ Kc6 47.h4 Kb5 48.h5 {At this point, White is under 5 minutes time and stopped scoring. Black tries to force a draw by repetition for the second time but Whites avoids it again. Eventually Black resigns.} 1-0 [Event "Friendly rated"] [Site "Crewe Chess Club"] [Date "2025.01.28"] [White "Scarpa, Mario"] [Black "Grocott, Philip"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1292"] [ECO "B12"] [EventDate "2025.01.28"] [WhiteElo "1354"] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Bb5+ Nc6 5.Bxc6+ {As the wiseman says, an exchange is well worth it, if it causes disruption in the enemy ranks.}5...bxc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 e6 8.Nbd2 Qb6 9.Qc1 c4 10.c3 a5 11.b3 {White realises that everything is getting stuck and tries to free some squares through exchanges.}11...Rb8 12.bxc4 Qb2 13.c5 {This blocks the Bishop... above all, Ba3}13...Qxc1+ 14.Rxc1 Ne7 15.O-O Bf5 16.c4 {White hopes in dxc4 followed by Nxc4, threatening Nxa4 as well as Nd6+ forcing the King to move.}16...Ng6 {...and this forces a change of strategy.}17.cxd5 exd5 {The road for the pawn in e5 is now paved.}18.Nb3 Rb5 19.Bd2 a4 20.Na5 Kd7 21.Ng5 {Remembering Julius Caesar's Gallic wars, White decides to put it into practice by ordering the cavalry to outflank Black on both sides.}21...Be7 22.Nxf7 Rhb8 23.a3 h6 {At this point, White fears Bg5 forcing Bishops to exchange and then Rxa5.}24.Bb4 Nf4 25.Nd6 {The idea is to force an exchange resulting in the e-file to be free for the Rook to advance... completely oblivious of the fork Ne2+}25...Bxd6 26.exd6 Nd3 27.Rc3 Nxb4 28.axb4 Rxb4 29.Re3 Be6 30.Nxc6 Kxc6 31.Rxe6 Rb1 32.Re7 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 a3 34.Rc7+ Kb5 35.d7 a2 36.Ra7 Kc6 37.Rxa2 {No point trying anything else, White is three pawns up and can afford to lose d7 if that means getting rid of the danger of a2}37...Kxd7 38.Ra7+ Kc6 39.Rxg7 Rb1+ 40.Ke2 Rb2+ 41.Ke3 Rb3+ 42.Kd2 Rb2+ {Black is tryingn to force a draw by repetition, which White wants to avoid.}43.Kc3 Rxf2 44.Rg6+ Kc7 45.Rxh6 Rxg2 46.Rh7+ Kc6 47.h4 Kb5 48.h5 {At this point, White is under 5 minutes time and stopped scoring. Black tries to force a draw by repetition for the second time but Whites avoids it again. Eventually Black resigns.} 1-0 White to move: find the best move... click the ? for the solution Black to move: find the best move... click the ? for the solution Warning: This game can only be seen if JavaScript is enabled in your browser.
