---

Bots are generally not that enjoyable to play against, but I do like the time-limited thematic bots that chess.com releases. At the time of this video and article, chess.com has several Super Mario Brothers themed bots, hilariously crossed with chess.com personalities.

Seeing that Mario has been crossed with Levy Rozman of GothamChess, one of my favourite chess YouTubers, I knew that I had to make a video playing this bot!

I had the White pieces and just like his real-life counterpart, Levy-Mario, Lario, responds with the Caro-Kann Defense. But how will Lario respond to me von Hennig Gambit? (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Bc4)

The answer – pretty well actually! Levy’s Caro-Kann expertise must had been built into this bot and they played the opening well all the way to move 6. However, this 1300 ELO rated bot was somewhat confounded by the complicated position afterwards.

By the middle game, we’d both castled kingside, but where I was marshalling my pieces for an attack, Lario’s pieces were somewhat cramped and stuck on the queenside. On move 13, I decided to play a dubious but aggressive move (13. Bg5). The goal was to potentially damage Lario’s defensive pawns… and it worked! Lario attempted to kick my bishop with (13… h6), but that’s what I wanted! Bishop sacrifice (Bxh6) – and this was rated a brilliant move by chess.com’s analytic engine!

After Lario captures the bishop (gxh6), the g-file is open, and their king is terribly exposed. Lario soon loses the new h-pawn to my queen, and Black is forced to fill the gaping hole in their kingside defence with their bishop. I have a connect four of pawns, dividing the board in two and unfortunately for Lario, practically all their pieces are still stuck on the wrong side of the barricade. Move 21, my knight advances, setting up a mating attack with my queen. Lario chooses not to run and so it’s game over on move 22!

[Event "vs Computer"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.04.16"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "FireLarioBot"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C28"]
[UTCDate "2023.04.16"]
[UTCTime "03:43:57"]
[WhiteElo "1423"]
[BlackElo "1300"]
[TimeControl "1/0"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "03:43:57"]
[EndDate "2023.04.16"]
[EndTime "03:56:27"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/268898143.cbc7b5ca.200x200o.69756209a63f@2x.png"]
[BlackCountry "225"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 c6 {Levy-Mario is playing the opening that GothamChess is know for, the
Caro-Kann $2} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Bc4 {But how will \"Lario\" cope with my von
Hennig Gambit $2} 4... Nf6 5. f3 b5 6. Bb3 e6 7. fxe4 {[%c_arrow
f3e4;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false,f1f6;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,f1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f1;persistent;false,f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false,f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false,f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false,f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false,f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false]
I capture back my pawn, opening up my f-file} 7... Be7 $2 {[%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [+1.3] as I know have an
attack on Black's knight on f6} 8. e5 Nd5 9. Nf3 $6 {[%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d1g4;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false] A relative inaccuracy
[+0.25] as I had an opportunity to immediate go on the offensive} 9... O-O $6
{[%c_effect g8;square;g8;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d5c3;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] An inaccuracy [+0.9]
with Black castling into my impending kingside attack. Black's pieces are
potentially cramped onto the queenside.} 10. O-O $6 {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c3d5;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] Though with this
move, I apparently give up my advantage [0.00]} 10... a5 11. a4 Qd7 $2 {[%c_effect
d7;square;d7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d5c3;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] Moving out of the
battery with the bishop was a mistake [+2.2]} 12. Ne2 $6 {[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f3g5;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] I decided to re-route
my knight to the kingside, an inaccuracy [+0.4]. Stockfish recommends taking
advantage of Black's loss of control of the g5 square.} 12... Bb7 $6 {[%c_effect
b7;square;b7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy [+1.5] with Black's
pieces continuing to be hemmed in and cramped on the queenside} 13. Bg5 $6
{[%c_effect g5;square;g5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c2c3;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] Stockfish called this
an inaccuracy [+0.5] and believed that creating the chain of pawns was the most
solid approach. However, my plan with this aggressive posturing was to induce
Black to make an error and damage the defenses of their kingside pawns.} 13...
h6 14. Bxh6 $3 {[%c_effect h6;square;h6;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] And it
worked $1 This was rated a brilliant move by the chess.com analytic engine [+1]}
14... gxh6 15. Qd2 Re8 $4 {[%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8g7;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false] \"Lario\" blunders
with the rook abandoning the defense of his king [+4.5]} 16. Qxh6 Bf8 $6
{[%c_effect f8;square;f8;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f7f5;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false] Understandable move,
but apparently an inaccuracy [+6.4]} 17. Qg5+ Bg7 18. c3 Qc7 $6 {[%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Lario is floundering against the
attack [+7.5]. Black's pieces are caught on the wrong side of my chain of
pawns.} 19. Bc2 $2 {[%c_arrow
b3d5;keyPressed;none;from;b3;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false][%c_effect
c2;square;c2;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [+2.8], capturing the
knight is best as it is Black's most active piece. After Black recaptures, the
centre is locked and Black has little counterplay.} 19... Nd7 20. Ng3 {[%c_arrow
g3h5;keyPressed;none;from;g3;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false,h5g7;keyPressed;none;from;h5;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false,g5g7;keyPressed;none;from;g5;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false,g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false]
Coming in for the kill...} 20... Rab8 $4 {[%c_effect
b8;square;b8;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f7f5;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false] Black is lost and
unable to find the right move [+9.2]} 21. Nh5 $1 {[%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 21... bxa4 $4 {[%c_effect
a4;square;a4;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8f8;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false] The king accepts his
fate...} 22. Qxg7# {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,g8;square;g8;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0