# Has it been that long since our last Mornington Crescent? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615 "2009-12-09T19:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/101 "2009-12-14T02:06:38Z")
Denied, under the Queen Mother’s Revised MC - 1906. I do get to re-declare stirrups with a swift transfer to **Canada Water.** ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/102 "2009-12-14T08:26:05Z")
Bah! That’s done it for me then. I’m in an unwinnable position, so I have little choice really other than to declare Stibbins, forfeiting the game and re-distributing my remaining tokens to the upper quadrant players. A jolly good game chaps, and I’m not at all ashamed to be bested by the likes of this fine representation of world-class athletes. I bow to you gentlemen. May the best man win! ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/103 "2009-12-14T13:44:49Z")
**Isamu** , before you forfeit, I’d suggest you look up the Ramsbottom Variant in your _Samuel Johnson’s Crescent World_. I think you might find pp 567-569(sub-B footnote 11) especially enlightening. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/104 "2009-12-14T14:54:11Z")
That’s the expurgated version you’re referring to there, I think. The one without The Gannett, the famous move instigated by Aspidites et al back in the early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/105 "2009-12-14T15:01:24Z")
Of course. Despite it’s lamentable lack of The Gannett, I find _Johnson’s MC_ too verbose and overly concerned with form. It’s awfully turgid in places, in my opinion. Coleridge’s 1799 Expurgation did wonders to clear up Johnson’s prose. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/106 "2009-12-14T17:45:22Z")
I find myself in complete agreement with **Wargamer** ’s assessment of _Jonhson’s_. He does (Jonhson, that is), however, provide us with a few interesting cases of Victoria variants, some of which undoubtedly served as a great source of inspiration for Lien Fu and his rather aggressive form of play. I have never favored the East-Asian variants much myself and shall choose quite a different mode of play. More solid, I would say, and entirely more in touch with today’s more careless continental style: **Angel**. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/107 "2009-12-14T17:46:50Z")
Canada Water, hmm. Well that means its time for a DLR redoubt at **North Greenwich** , reopening transfers for all points north of the river. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/108 "2009-12-14T17:49:54Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > I have never favored the East-Asian variants much myself and shall choose quite a different mode of play. More solid, I would say, and entirely more in touch with today’s more careless continental style: **Angel**. While the East Asian school has become much more popular in social circles, I feel that it lacks the fundamental flexibility required for late game play, often leaving a player with less than 40 or 50 possible moves on a turn. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/109 "2009-12-14T17:50:03Z")
I see that our plays have crossed each other, thus paving a way for one of those rare favorites of mine, the _Jeu Parallax_ . I can hardly contain myself in my eagerness to find out what happens next! ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/110 "2009-12-14T20:19:10Z")
I absolutely am floored by the opportunity here: **Kentish Town**. Although this play is directly from the Internationale Challenge, which falls into the Suspended Play category of MC, since the tourney was called off in the wake of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Stanswick was in a postion to call MC in 17 until Hvelcek left to take over the Czech Comnmision on Sport, Culture, and Competition. So, the jury, so to speak, is out on this move (and has been for 20 years now). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/111 "2009-12-14T21:23:02Z")
**Woolwich Dockyard** ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/112 "2009-12-14T22:50:50Z")
**ArchiveGuy** with the Spare Play. Well done sir, well done. In the spirit of your play, I will merely add: **Rickmansworth**. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/113 "2009-12-14T23:07:13Z")
And in a most unscientific move, I shall play **Wimbledon** because it’s the sort of thing everyone wants to say but usually don’t get to do, unless you’re _Queen_ or good at Tennis… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/114 "2009-12-14T23:44:21Z")
Wigs! Which, according to _Claremont 1957b_, means I can execute a Pantograph directly to **Goodge Street**. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/115 "2009-12-15T02:07:11Z")
I’ll take a cornerkick-shunt @ **Wembley Central**. ---
**Author:** ![There\_is\_no\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@There\_is\_no\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/There_is_no_God)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/116 "2009-12-15T07:38:39Z")
I hope this isn’t too terribly bold for this group. I’ve rarely seen this move in large groups (except for that one tournament in Beckingham, 1987), so… **Bermondsey** ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/117 "2009-12-15T13:26:07Z")
**TinG** was that the game reported in the _Commonwealth MC Reports, 3rd_ where Islelingham trounced the field with a Vittorian Gambit? Or am I misremembering? Anyway, I’ll continue to pound away at the Actons by playing **Acton Main Line.** ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/118 "2009-12-15T13:52:03Z")
Acton Main Line? Well, all I can say for sure is that one of us is seriously misinterpreting _Conyngham vs The Durham Coal Miners Collective_ (1923) because my understanding (based largely on Conyngham’s own - admittedly somewhat jaundiced! - analysis of both his game and his time in the North-East \*Black Lung, Blacker Hearts: A Gentleman’s Guide To Chastising the Lower Orders By Means Of The Noble Game \*) is that this leaves **Gunnersbury Park** wide open. Which means that not only are yellow tokens now Widdershins but part-time stations are now open. But I’m slightly worried that I’ve missed something… ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/119 "2009-12-15T14:24:48Z")
Well I thought I was in kip, but if part-time stations are now open I’m tempted to attempt Lenin’s Gamble and drop a three-marker in the attic before proceeding. However, I think I’m going to go with a more conservative play and invert the prism, changing the RGB color model of all odd tokens to CMYK, thus clearing the downrange vector and allowing me to move to **New Brunswick**. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615/120 "2009-12-15T14:27:50Z")
> [@amrussell](#): > > Acton Main Line? Well, all I can say for sure is that one of us is seriously misinterpreting _Conyngham vs The Durham Coal Miners Collective_ (1923) because my understanding (based largely on Conyngham’s own - admittedly somewhat jaundiced! - analysis of both his game and his time in the North-East \*Black Lung, Blacker Hearts: A Gentleman’s Guide To Chastising the Lower Orders By Means Of The Noble Game \*) is that this leaves **Gunnersbury Park** wide open. Which means that not only are yellow tokens now Widdershins but part-time stations are now open. > > But I’m slightly worried that I’ve missed something… Gah! I told you my Acton play was weak, and here it is demonstrated before the world. And **Omi no Kami** really piles on the dirt with a superior move. Well, in for a pence, in for a pound - **North Acton**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-it-been-that-long-since-our-last-mornington-crescent/520615.md?page=7)