Menegroth-of-Doriath: Lord of the Thousand Caves, Scourge of the Blitz Ladder
Menegroth-of-Doriath surfaced into rated online chess in September 2025 at a humble 1760, then did what any proper resident of the Hidden Kingdom does: refused to be seen at that level again. Twelve months later, the peak blitz rating stands at 2718 (2026-09-23), a climb of roughly a thousand points spread across more than 3,600 blitz games. The preferred battlefield is blitz. Rapid and bullet sit untouched, and daily chess is deployed mainly as a polite way of showing guests the door: 42 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws. The two defeats are widely assumed to be the price of a certain famous jewelry heist.
The Twelve-Month Ascent
The rating curve reads like an expedition log. October 2025 brought 352 games. July 2026 brought 449. Then came September 2026 and a frankly alarming 729 games in a single month, capped by the all-time peak on September 23. Historians of Doriath suspect an elven stamina rune was involved, and possibly a kettle that never goes cold.
Opening Repertoire: Weapons of the Hidden Kingdom
With White, it is 1.e4 almost always: 1,020 e4 first moves in 2026 against 355 with d4, plus eight games starting with 1.a3, presumably the royal way of saying "state your errand." The main weapon is the Scotch Game, played 225 times at a 55% score, warming up as
. The true crown jewel is the French Defense: Burn Variation, a 67% win rate over 83 games, which is exactly the kind of lopsided border tax a hidden kingdom charges travelers.There are also 125 Najdorfs, 136 Caro-Kanns, and 140 games of the ominously named Amazon Attack, whose 48% score does not quite live up to the name but keeps visitors nervous.
Defending the borderlands with Black goes well: the Scandinavian Defense scores nearly 58%, and the English Opening: Agincourt Defense was surely chosen partly for the name. The soft spots are the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense at 43% and anything Queen's Gambit Declined flavored, where results dip below 40%. Every kingdom has an unguarded gate. These are the two.
The Eternal Appointment
Every hero needs a nemesis. This one got a standing appointment instead. Jasonchessfinder1 has crossed blades 68 times and has won exactly 3 of those games, drawing 6 and losing the other 59. At this point it is less a rivalry and more a treaty obligation. Other familiar faces include kot60, missing44, and epiclooser, whose username promises considerably more than the 4-4-1 head-to-head record delivers.
Playing Style: The Girdle Holds
- Endgame first, endgame often: roughly 77% of games reach a final phase, and the average win takes 76 moves. The Thousand Caves are deep, and so is the technique inside them.
- Comeback rate of 92.9%: even after dropping a whole piece, nearly half of the games are still won. The Girdle of Melian has nothing on this defense.
- Early resignation rate of 0.13. Elves do not resign. They endure.
- The queen is the most common checking piece, deployed 3,492 times. Royalty checks with royalty.
- 196 wins on time. The patience of Doriath is geological.
- Longest winning streak: 12 games, with a 7-game streak currently running, the old power stirring.
- A low tilt factor of 9 and a 31-point better win rate in casual games suggest the palace walls simply go up higher when rated points are on the line.
Court Records and Curiosities
- Best hour: 05:00, with a 65.9% win rate. Dawn raids are traditional. Worst hour: 18:00 at 41.5%, when the evening Kinslaying energy takes hold.
- Sundays are the strongest day at 53.8%. Tuesdays are respectable. Fridays are for feasting, apparently.
- Daily perfection club: 3-for-3 in the Closed Ruy Lopez, unbeaten in Petrov's Defense, the Torre Attack, and the Przepiorka Variation, plus a 6-0-1 record in the Sicilian Cobra Variation.
- One daily win in the London... Poisoned Pawn Variation, the remainder of whose name has been redacted by royal decree.
- Ten draws by stalemate, zero stalemate wins, zero stalemate losses. Symmetry worthy of the Girdle itself.
Final Scouting Report
Challenge Menegroth-of-Doriath early on a Sunday morning if you must. Come armed against the Scotch, do not give up a piece unless you enjoy losing anyway, and above all do not try to take anything out of the caves. The record suggests it goes poorly for visitors.