Jun 26, 2025
Author's Commentary #366:
Time to talk about Chapter 366: Bad blood.
This one's another character introduction chapter, but there is also some lore within it too. Anyway, let's get right into the bios.
イヴォンヌ・フローレス (Ivonne Flores) is how Ivonne's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is February 17th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
イヴェリッセ・ベラウンデ (Ivelisse Belaúnde) is how Ivelisse's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 8th, which she shares with Peruvian grandmaster, Emilio Córdova.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
イゼッタ・ヤルレケ (Izetta Yarlequé) is how Izetta's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 18th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Izetta is clearly the character I've put the most work into writing, as she has a solid backstory and character. She's also close with Ichiko, meaning you can expect to see more of her in the future.
イオ・ママニ (Io Mamani) is how Io's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is January 8th, which is the day the moon, Io, was first discovered.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
ムン・チュンファ (Moon Chun-hwa) is how Chun-hwa's name would be spelled in katakana. 문춘화 (Moon Chun-hwa) is how it would be spelled in Korean.
Her birthday is July 15th. I chose the date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Originally, I meant to introduce the entire Peruvian team shortly after Ichiko's show ended, but just didn't feel like doing it at the time. One fun fact about the team is that the name of every single member of it begins with an "I". Just goes to show my affinity for names that start with "I", as there are quite a few characters with names like that in this story alone.
パク・イェビン (Park Ye-bin) is how Ye-bin's name would be spelled in katakana. 박예빈 (Park Ye-bin) is how it would be spelled in Korean.
Her birthday is June 14th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
ヨン・ジュヘ (Young Ju-hye) is how Ju-hye's name would be spelled in katakana. 영혜 (Young Ju-hye) is how it would be spelled in Korean.
Her birthday is July 13th, which she shares with South Korean singer-songwriter and composer, Baek Ye-bin.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
オ・インヘ (Oh In-hye) is how In-hye's name would be spelled in katakana. 오인혜 (Oh In-hye) is how it would be spelled in Korean.
Her birthday is April 5th, which she shares with Soviet-born Korean grandmaster, Alexey Kim.
Her favorite piece is the pawn.
ノエ・ダソム (Noe Da-som) is how Da-som's name would be spelled in katakana. 노에다솜 (Noe Da-som) is how it would be spelled in Korean.
Her birthday is February 14th, which is Valentines Day. This is fitting since Da-som means "love" in Korean.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
When I first settled on having a Korean team, I knew they were going to be a K-pop group. I didn't have Chun-hwa being a rival to Izetta though, something I only decided to go with last minute. Though it is worth mentioning that the Korean team was created long before the Peruvian one. And in case anyone's curious, in the world of this story, Mongolia has conquered North Korea, and eyeing to do the same to the Republic of Korea as well. This was one of the reasons the Korean government is desperate to find good chess talent, however, Chun-hwa's primary objective for bringing Malasangre to Budapest is for publicity. Speaking of Malasangre, it's Spanish for "bad blood", hence the chapter's title.
ラヤ・バギロワ (Raya Baghirova) is how Raya's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is August 8th, which is the day the Quba District of Azerbaijan was first established.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Raya hails from Qırmızı Qəsəbə, a municipality and village in Azerbaijan's Quba District, notable for it's Jewish-majority population. The name of the town roughly translates to "Red Town" or "Red Village". As for Raya herself, she's a freestyle rapper and the DSPCM of Quba, which is just across the Qudyai river from Qırmızı Qəsəbə. As for the other DSPCM positions in Azerbaijan, Afag's the DSPCM of Beylagan, Aigul's the DSPCM of Nakhchivan city, Dinara's the DSPCM of Ganja, whle Aydan's the DSPCM of Baku.
ヘレ・ダール (Helle Dahl) is how Helle's name would be spelled is katakana.
Her birthday is October 22nd, which she shares with Estonian international master, Mai Narva.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
Helle is a Swedish-Estonian punk rocker with a foul mouth, but gift for music and chess.
エグル・ヴィズギルダ (Eglė Vizgirda) is how Eglė's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is August 6th, which she shares with Lithuanian grandmaster, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Eglė's character design draws heavily from the Lithuanian folk tale, Eglė the Queen of Serpents. It was actually through researching this that made me decide to go ahead and create the Lithuanian women's team.
カトリアナ・モスカル (Katryana Moskal) is how Katryana's name would be spelled in katakana. Катряна Москаль (Katryana Moskal) is how it would be spelled in Russian.
Her birthday is January 12th, which she shares with controversial Russian grandmaster, Sergey Karjakin.
Her favorite piece is the king.
In works of fiction, there are times where there must be insufferable characters present to enhance the overall story. Katryana is an example of this as will be her husband, Col Vladilen Moskal. I've actually revised her to make her even worse than before. Originally, she was just the racist wife of a Russian general, but now she's a full-blown war criminal. That being said, I currently have little screentime planned for the two, though I will admit, she was originally slated to have a more prominent antagonistic role, which ended up vanishing moreso due to the ever-growing cast of characters, resulting in my focus constantly shifting from one character to the next, which means some characters end up left in the dust.
ガリーナ・ロス (Galina Los) is how Galina's name would be spelled in katakana. Галина Лось (Galina Los) is how it would be spelled in Russian.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is April 11th, which she shares with Russian grandmaster, Tatiana Kosintseva.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Galina has one of my favorite designs. Originally, she was slated to be Katryana's bitch in crime, but since I liked her design so much, I decided against going that route with her character. Now she's more of the drama enjoyer type as if she sees a conflict brewing, her first course of action would be to grab some popcorn and find a comfy couch to sit on. And if there's drama to be had, but no one's instigated it, she'll do everyone the disservice of starting it.
And with that, the bios are done. And the stage is also set for the match between Raymond and Anastasia. The wait is finally over, so get hyped for what will be in contention for one of the top 30 best games in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
