Author: Mario Scarpa

Yesterday, Crewe I played its last away game of the league season. This match was originally scheduled some time ago but was postponed due to the refurbishment of the Kidsgrove Chess Club… and what a good job we did! The renovation has transformed the club into a place of beauty and comfort never seen before.

This is no trivial detail because, when you have to endure defeat, doing so while sitting on a massive pinewood chair at a grand wooden table next to a lit fireplace makes it far less unpleasant. I mean, we lost 3½ – ½, but boy, what an absolutely stunning setting!

Well, what else can I say? Each of us once again faced an opponent rated about 200 points higher… it was always going to be an uphill battle.

As for me, I managed to make my opponent sweat—really sweat—but, unfortunately, not quite enough to secure a victory. As usual, I published the game on our website. The time pressure got the better of me in the end, I blundered, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Italian term obliterato normally refers to a bus ticket that has been validated. You know how it works: you get on the bus or train, show your ticket, and the controller stamps it with the punch machine…

Last night, I learnt the English meaning of the term when Crewe I was obliterated by Newcastle B. Man, and what a punch machine they were! Peter was the only one to secure a draw, while the rest of us… well, let’s just say the scorecard looked like the three of us just played a long castling: 0-0-0

What can we say? This was the third time in a row in which our opponent were rating not 100, not 200 but some 250 points more than us!!!
At least I can say that I gave my opponent a very hard time. I didn’t just go down quietly without a fight.

As usual, my game is published on the database page of our website.

Our database now includes all the games played during the 2024 WC Cup. It took quite a while to add them all because they were only available in handwritten paper form, which made it very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to decipher… Nonetheless I managed to reconstruct nearly all of them. You’ll find them under the menu Useful Links > Game Database

Quite a busy night at the club yesterday… so busy that late arrivals struggled to find a parking spot. Among the many matches, Crewe I lost against Cheddleton D.

That said, Gerald keeps defeating his opponents with incredible speed. Despite the game consisting of 60 moves, they were all done so quickly that I sometimes wonder if board 4 is in Blitz-mode.

I found myself once again facing an opponent rated about 100 points higher than me and, in keeping with the ongoing trend, I made him sweat as much as I could… this time, even managing to secure a draw. Initially, I refused the offer, but shortly after I accepted it, fully aware that time pressure would have caused me to lose (and a draw is always better than a loss).

Last night we had our first game of the year. Unfortunately, we lost 2^1/2 – 1^1/2 and that would be all there is to say… or would it?

Malcolm managed to secure a draw, thus granting us the extra half point that prevents the match from being classified as a crushing defeat—it sounds much better than 3-0, doesn’t it? Gerald won straight away before I even finished my first pint of Coke. Nowadays, he seems to dispose of his opponents very rapidly, unlike myself, who linger in the struggle until the very (and in this case, bitter) end. I played on board 1 against someone rated some 200 points higher than me. Considering that, I’m quite satisfied that, despite my loss, I made him sweat to exhaustion and gave him some good headaches… time pressure did, however, get the best of me in the end, as one blunder leads to another…

Last night, Crewe I played an away match at the Fenton Chess Club, which, for those who haven’t yet seen it, makes quite a first impression. The chess club shares its premises with a snooker club, which you have to walk through to reach the chess room. I was already intrigued by the atmosphere, wondering whether I was heading to a chess match or stepping into the setting of an exciting crime movie (a genre I rather like). Before even reaching the chessboard, I found myself pondering whether to use the Loan Sharking Gambit or the Money Laundering Defence… but given the nature of the situation, I decided to stick with the Italian Opening – it fits both narratives quite well.

…Little did I know my opponent would respond with the French Defence (Franco-Benoni variation). You can see the entire game below.

As a team, we lost by the narrowest of margins: three boards ended in draws, while one was lost, resulting in a final score of 2^½ – 1^½. Yet, achieving such a result against opponents rated around 100 points higher than us feels like a triumph. In total, their team had a combined rating 348 points higher than ours! Here is the breakdown of the ratings:

Board 1: 1469 – 1329 = 140
Board 2: 1401 – 1326 = 75
Board 3: 1340 – 1250 = 90
Board 4: 1236 – 1193 = 43

Not bad at all!

Some say that there is no greater pleasure than coming home and being welcomed by the smell of freshly baked bread. Yesterday, I programmed the bread maker so that it would be ready by the time I returned from the match and… my goodness… yes, there is indeed a greater pleasure: being welcomed by the smell of bread after having crushed the enemy team with a glorious 3^1/2 – ^1/2.

Peter and Gerald were the quickest to win on boards 3 and 4, Mike secured an excellent draw on board 2, and, unbelievable as it sounds, I won on time! Yes, there is no typo: I won. Time is normally a factor I lose on, so it is refreshing to have turned things around for a change. My game was roughly even until my opponent fell into a couple of traps I set, which gave me a positional advantage.

Last night Crewe H vs Crewe I resulted in 2.5 – 1.5, which is consistent with last week game. Simply put, Crewe H has far stronger players than we have, which is why the results, though unpleasant, did not come as a surprise. Looking at the combined ELO of the teams, we had a 105 points disadvantage last week, while yesterday we were down by 385!
This is worth remembering, because it makes the predictable defeats not as crushing as they could have been, which is rather encouraging.
Another predictable thing was that I would run out of time… which I did. I was about to lose anyway, since Finn was a few pawns up on their way to promotion but, technically, I lost on time.

Nonetheless I am proud of my 26^th move (Qd6). While not spectacular, at least it gives a hint of elegance of the game.