Nov 26, 2025
Author's Commentary #41:
It's finally time to discuss the final chapter of Volume 1 before the epilogue, Chapter 41: The 7 secret chess maestros.
The idea of there being secret super grandmasters was a by product of my "if this novel gets a video game adaptation, it needs to have this" mentality. However, as I thought about the idea more, I got inspiration for a new arc of the story and subsequent arcs as well.
If you remember back in Chapter 30: Peter Morphy, the names of all of Japan's SPCMs (secret puzzle cafe managers) were mentioned. In addition to beating Himitsudono of the Ibaraki prefecture, Okisato's also beaten Himitsutan of Nagasaki, Himitsukun of Hokkaido, Himitsusama of Okinawa and Himitsuue, who currently doesn't have a designated secret puzzle cafe of her own yet, but is planned to get one in Tokyo. He's also encountered Himitsuchan of Nikko, but botched his match against her thanks to playing a stupid opening, thus, he'll have to rematch her. Himitsusan, however, is the only Japanese SPCM he hasn't encountered yet.
As for the DSPCMs (deputy secret puzzle cafe managers), I originally introduced the concept of them back when I first did my major revisions to Season 4 in the original. They're essentially secret puzzle cafe managers in countries that don't have a maestro. Said countries can get anywhere from 1 to 6 DSPCMs, based off of a global chess power ranking system. For example, a place like Serbia would get 5 spots due to it's chess prowess while a place like Montenegro would only get 2. Nations can also get more DSPCMs than originally allotted, though the total number of DSPCMs can never exceed 6. City states such as Monaco and San Marino, can only ever have 1 DSPCM due to them being city states.
One final thing to touch on with SPCMs and DSPCMs is the fact that they can compete in tournaments. Originally, I had it so that once someone became an SPCM they were effectively retired from competitive play, but I reversed this as I felt it didn't make sense in the long run.
Now onto the maestros. They are this world's secret top chess players. Each one is located in a different country and each has 7 SPCMs serving under them. Japan's maestro is Maestro Himitsu. Speaking of maestros, Season 2 was once officially titled, The fallen maestro. If you read my initial post, you'll know that I originally decided to have a Season 2 Part 1 and Part 2. However, I decided to reverse that decision and have Season 2 just be Season 2, and Season 2 Part 2 be Season 3. Though Seasons 3 could be considered The Fallen Maestro arc.
Just as I mentioned before though, Season 2 was thought up and written before I thought up the concept of the maestros. However, it does have some small build-up moments which will lead into Season 3. Not to mention Season 2 will also introduce some integral characters to Season 3.
However, with the volume revisions, I'm falling back on my original vision and merging Seasons 2 and 3 into a single volume. I'll have a tad more to elaborate on in the commentary for the epilogue.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
