Jul 09, 2025
Author's Commentary #495:
Time to talk about Chapter 495: Lamp oil, rope, poisoned pawns.
Finnish bootleg Morshu is here, folks. Now is the time to dig up that Morshu text-to-speech app and use it or at the very least, imagine Morshu's voice or one just like it, coming from his mouth. Speaking of which, I think one of the reasons Morshu can say so many things using just his line from the game is because he says every syllable or something in the two lines he has, making it possible to make him say anything just by copy/pasting those lines. But enough talk of trivia here, let's do proper bios for the Finnish boys.
ユハペッカ・ヨエンスー (Juha-Pekka Joensuu) is how Juha-Pekka's name would be written in katakana.
His birthday is May 1st, which he shares with JP from Street Fighter 6.
His favorite piece is the bishop.
To be honest, his name is the only standout feature about him other than the fact that he's emo.
オイバ・フースコネン (Oiva Huuskonen) is how Oiva's name would be written in katakana.
His birthday is May 21st. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is his birthday.
His favorite piece is the queen.
Oica's the femboy of the bunch, and like Juha-Pekka, doesn't have much development.
ルーペ・モロッタヤ (Roope Morottaja) is how Roope's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is October 10th, which is the day Link: The Faces of Evil was first released.
His favorite piece is the pawn.
In case it wasn't obvious, this guy's a full blown rference o Morshu from the Legend of Zelda. Even references Mortar, the parody character of Morshu from Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore. This all came about because his name literally translates to "rope", and as we all know, Morshu sells lamp oil, rope, and bombs as long as you have enough rupees.
As for the game, it was short, but I wanted to make sure it had a poisoned pawn variation so that I could make the chapter title work. Since the Latvian Gambit had one such variant, I went with that. Now I really am starting to get curious how frequently this gambit has been played. I want to say around 5 or 6, but it could be a little more.
And now, the men have gotten their first perfect sweep of the tournament. All that remains is for the women to do so, and then we get closer to the final act of this arc in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
