Apr 27, 2026
Author's Commentary #27:
Time to talk about Chapter 27: Pop quiz.
This is another chapter added to the original Season 1 as part of a series of revisions, this time expanding on the round 2 games of Mimoko and Okisato. And just like round 1, it introduces characters that originally debuted in Season 7, but that I decided to have introduced earlier. Let's talk more about them.
マカビー・ベン・ホーリン (Maccabee Ben-Horin) is how Maccabee's name is spelled in katakana. מכבי בן-חורין (Maccabee Ben-Horin) is how his name would be spelled in Hebrew.
His birthday is June 24th, which he shares with Belarusian-Israeli grandmaster, Boris Gelfand.
His favorite piece is the knight as it can move as it pleases.
Originally born into an ultra-religious family, Maccabee was always one who craved for a less overbearing lifestyle. After meeting and falling in love with a Japanese archeologist, he left the sect to elope with her to Los Angeles, marrying her and eventually having a daughter with her there. He is Sephardic, and shares his name with the Maccabees, a group of Jewish rebels that overthrew the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE, which eventually led to the celebration of Hanukkah. As such, he often carries around dreidels, 4-sided tops each containing a Hebrew letter, as they are often associated with Hanukkah.
ミルヤナ・マヒイッチ (Mirjana Majić) is how Mirjana's name would be spelled in katakana. Мирјана Мајић (Mirjana Majić) is how it would be spelled in Montenegrin (Cyrillic).
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is March 24th, which she shares with Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer, Harry Houdini.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Mirjana is very hardworking and active, serving primarily as an aide to Montenegro's president. She often finds herself doing most of the paperwork and logistics handling in order to keep the country running smoothly. In terms of hobbies, she's fascinated with magic tricks, and likes to practice them in her spare time.
As for the game, Maccabee plays the Old Benoni Defense, or rather, forces Mimoko into it. The Benoni takes its name from בֶּן־אוֹנִי (Ben-Oni), an ancient Hebrew name, which means "son of my sorrow" and was the name Rachel gave to Benjamin as she was dying, according to biblical account. The name first found its way to chess thanks to Aaron Reinganum, a Frankfurt Jew, who studied chess to alleviate his depression. During his time, 1. d4 c5 had no official name, but since Reinganum titled the book he wrote in which it was studied, Ben-Oni oder die Vertheidigungen gegen die Gambitzüge im Schache, the move soon became known as the Benoni, later the Old Benoni Defense. Given the fact that Maccabee is Jewish, I felt this was a fitting opening to have him play, more so given his backstory and the meaning behind the name.
Originally, I had Maccabee play a different opening, but after doing some work for later volumes, I felt like said game would be more suitable to be played by a different character. Not to mention, in that game, Maccabee quickly ends up in trouble early on, while as in this game, he lasts a bit longer and plays more at his level. That being said, both this game and the original were played against Chess.com's 2700-rated level 23 engine bot.
Since I decided to have Maccabee debut earlier, I figured he should play against Mimoko as means of testing how good she is. A gifted player like Mimoko was naturally able to pass his test with flying colors. As such, I decided to name the chapter "Pop quiz", not just for the fact that Mimoko is effectively being quizzed on how to properly counter Maccabee's moves, but also because Maccabee himself is a father, thus the "pop" in the title could hold a double meaning.
As for why I chose Maccabee and Mirjana to be the second round opponents, Maccabee, or rather someone related to him, will become a very important character later on in the series. As such, I figured I'd have them both debut in Season 1 of the original. It also makes sense for Maccabee to frequently travel to Japan as his wife is Japanese. Mirjana on the other hand, I simply wanted to introduce earlier.
And with that, Mimoko's 1st and 2nd round games, which were previously off-screened have been shown in all their glory. All that remains in terms of round 2 is Okisato's game against Mirjana. This one won't be shown like all the others have, but will nonetheless be important for character development between the characters.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
