MSCRRT 2021: Menalque vs. Umlaut (0–1)

Menalque · Post Post #1 (isolation #0) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:07 am

good luck!

Menalque · Post Post #3 (isolation #1) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:18 am

haha, I will also be doing my best to avoid just blundering away the game but no promises

Menalque · Post Post #5 (isolation #2) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:33 am

well I've never played it outside of blitz, so it's gonna be a learning experience for both of us!

Menalque · Post Post #6 (isolation #3) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:33 am

so far I've found it to be pretty universally fun and exciting though, whether I've won or lost

Menalque · Post Post #8 (isolation #4) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:38 am

well, that is... highly disappointing, as taking on f4 is, I think, considered to be just winning for white

Menalque · Post Post #10 (isolation #5) » Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:25 pm

lol, I will say it's definitely been going remarkably better for me than Nf3 in blitz, but again that's mostly bc at my rating it gets accepted more often than it should (then again, I have twice blundered the move order afterwards in blitz games but still somehow ended up winning)

Menalque · Post Post #12 (isolation #6) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:40 am

Moment of truth...

Menalque · Post Post #14 (isolation #7) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:11 am

you know that feeling when you thought you had a brilliant attacking idea and it turns out you actually just blundered?

yeah...

Menalque · Post Post #15 (isolation #8) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:15 am

Menalque · Post Post #17 (isolation #9) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:42 am

I’ll try to lol

Menalque · Post Post #21 (isolation #10) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:32 pm

Menalque · Post Post #23 (isolation #11) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:35 pm

Menalque · Post Post #25 (isolation #12) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:39 pm

Menalque · Post Post #27 (isolation #13) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:45 pm

I suppose I see no reason to prolong my demise

Menalque · Post Post #29 (isolation #14) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:05 pm

Menalque · Post Post #31 (isolation #15) » Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:24 pm

Menalque · Post Post #41 (isolation #16) » Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:28 am

Menalque · Post Post #43 (isolation #17) » Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:37 am

oh ty, I thought that would work but I wasn't sure and was doing it on mobile so didn't wanna chance it

Menalque · Post Post #45 (isolation #18) » Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:59 am

Menalque · Post Post #47 (isolation #19) » Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:28 am

Yeh I think you’re playing this entirely correctly but god it’s not easy

In hindsight I think Re7 was the mistake that finished me, even if the knight blunder was what put me behind

Menalque · Post Post #49 (isolation #20) » Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:53 am

It’s a french name so you have it almost right! And only off slightly because there should be an accent on the “é” making it more “may-NALK” but I think the boards wouldn’t accept it? Or maybe I just forgot or was worried people here would find it overly pretentious. Which it already kind of is, seeing as it’s a secondary character from the novel L’Immoraliste by André Gide

Menalque · Post Post #51 (isolation #21) » Wed Feb 10, 2021 10:26 am

Oh cool, why French? And yeah, it may have worked out for the best tbh

Menalque · Post Post #53 (isolation #22) » Fri Feb 12, 2021 3:17 am

So, fun fact, I somehow hallucinated that it was your turn the last time I checked and then because I didn’t see the game near the top again I just kept thinking that lol

But oh cool, I had no idea about any of that! I personally find french a really pretty language and have a few friends from there which is why I moved there, but I find it a lot more difficult than Spanish and that + Covid meant me changing my plans and ending up here instead. What did you end up doing instead of academia?

Menalque · Post Post #56 (isolation #23) » Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:37 am

That sounds like a pretty fun trajectory! I’ve only ever been to a casino once and honestly it was kind of depressing (my main memory is of a guy playing slots who just kept loading another 50 pounds into the machine all night every time he ran out, and he was there for hours, just drinking a beer by himself) but I can see how if it’s funded it’s probably more enjoyable!

I was really considering resigning this but idk, maybe it’s hard to break through if I play well?

Menalque · Post Post #58 (isolation #24) » Sun Feb 14, 2021 7:59 am

Maaaaaaybe but I feel like it’s much harder to be tricksy with a rook than it is with a knight!

I also just won the most disgusting blitz game where I was down like 30 points according to the computer, and then the opponent let me get a back rank in 2 when I think literally any other move and I would have lost

Menalque · Post Post #60 (isolation #25) » Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:02 pm

Yeah, I resign, I don’t see any traps or tricks after Kd3 Nxg3 Rg1 Nh5 Rg5 g6, I was considering both Kd3 and Rf1 and thought the order didn’t really matter but I missed that the pawn was falling this way round

GG, kinda disappointed with how I played here tbh but you cleaned up really nicely