Mellor, Jess – Scarpa, Mario

Mellor, Jess (1150)
Scarpa, Mario (1345)
Result: 0-1

Metadata »

Date: 13 January 2026
Location: Crewe Chess Club
Tournament: 2025/2026 Cups NSDCA Minor Cup (U1375)
Round: 2.1.2
Opening: D00 Queen's Pawn Game (including Blackmar–Diemer Gambit, Halosar Trap and others)
Submitted by:
Published on: 14 January 2026
Categories: game

[Event "2025/2026 Cups NSDCA Minor Cup (U1375)"]
[Site "Crewe Chess Club"]
[Date "2026.01.13"]
[Round "2.1.2"]
[White "Mellor, Jess"]
[Black "Scarpa, Mario"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1345"]
[BlackTeam "Crewe Perry 1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[EventDate "2026.01.13"]
[WhiteElo "1150"]
[WhiteTeam "Alsager Perry"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.Nc3 {The point of the Albin Counter Gambit is that, after dxe5, the black pawn on the d-file is pushed forward and backed by every possible piece, including doubling Queen and Rook through O-O-O... but White here does not play dxe5, so a plan B needs to be improvised and implemented.}3...Bb4 {This protects against Nxd5}4.dxe5 d4 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 {This protects d4 and d8. If there's going to be a pawn exchange, White ends up with isolated ones and, if the Queens are exchanged, the black Knight takes, so that the King doesn't have to.}7.Nf3 dxc3 8.Qxd8+ Nxd8 {The black King can still castle and the pawn is dangerously close to promotion, while White's formation on Queen's side has been completely destroyed.}9.Nd4 Ne6 10.Nxe6 Bxe6 11.e4 Rd8 {Black could have castlede O-O-O, but sees that Rb1 would threaten b7, while Be3 would threaten a7. Such attack from White would force Black to dismantle the pawn formation, so he decides to castle O-O instead. Hence Rd8 instead of O-O-O}12.Ra2 Rd4 13.f3 Bxc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.O-O Ne7 16.Rc2 Nc6 17.Rd1 Nd4 {White sees that the black Knight has the potential to cause serious trouble. It's forcing the Rook away from c2 and protecting the pawn if ti advances. Ne2 would check and potentially fork. So she decides that exchanging would cost her less... but it still a great cost...}18.Rxd4 Rxd4 19.Rxc3 O-O {Black sees that Rd1+ would grant him a free Bishop, but first the white Rook must be lured away from the c-file. By not defending the pawns Black hopes to achieve that and, in the meantime, takes steps to double the Rooks.}20.Rxc7 Rfd8 21.Kf2 {This ruins Black's plan, but it also offers new opportunities to smoke the white King out.}21...Rd1 22.Bg5 {Black overlooked the tactic and now realises he cannot move the rook from the 8-rank, lest he be mated.}22...Re8 23.Bf4 Rd3 24.Rxb7 Rxa3 25.Be3 a5 26.Bc5 Ra2+ 27.Kg3 h6 {Black opens a way out, so that the Rook can move out of the 8-rank again}28.f4 Rc8 29.Rb5 Rc2 30.Bd4 a4 31.Ra5 R2c4 32.Rd5 a3 33.Ba1 Rxe4 {White resigns.} 0-1