Apr 29, 2026
Author's Commentary #15:
Time to talk about Chapter 15: Strife in the dining hall.
This chapter serve to introduce a few of the many new characters that will debut in this arc. The most notable of the bunch is Vlatka, who is shaping up to be a minor antagonist of the tournament. Before we get to her, let's go through some of the other characters first.
ジャーナ・オクセンダル (Jaana Øksendal) is how Jaana's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 9th, which she shares with Norwegian grandmaster, Benjamin Arvola Notkevich.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
インガ・オクセンダル (Inga Øksendal) is how Inga's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is May 14th, which she shares with both Norwegian grandmaster, Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal, and Bohemian-Austrian, and later American, as well as the first World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
トーヴェ・ボンデヴィク (Tove Bondevik) is how Tove's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 15th, which she shares with Norwegian women's international master, Silje Bjerke.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
ヴラトカ・ユルコヴィッチ (Vlatka Jurkovič) is how Vlatka's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is March 22nd, which she shares with controversial Croatian jet setter, Vlataka Pokos.
Her favorite piece is the queen, for obvious reasons.
Vlatka was loosely inspired by Croatian celebrity, Vlatka Pokos, though aside from sharing the same name, and both being controversial figures, the similarities end there. This Vlatka is far worse, and far more egotistical, not to mention she's now president of Croatia, which is now the most powerful office in the country thanks to her winning a DESPER match. Before I originally settled on the storyline for the Balkan nations, the plotlines for said nations were much different, and far more fashion industry oriented. Both Serbia's team and Croatia's team were to be comprised of models, with the Serbian team being more punk-inspired.
Croatia did have a bit more development though as Vlatka was originally set to be a jerkish fashion designer, who had control of the Croatian president from the shadows. Said plotline has obviously been revised, as now Vlatka is Croatia's sole head of state, and the fashion industry plotline is completely abandoned, but even back then, Vlatka was always meant to be more of an antagonistic character.
グルグル・ジュガイ将軍 (Gen. Grgur Žugaj) is how Grgur's name would be spelled in Japanese.
His birthday is August 17th, which he shares with Croatian grandmaster, Ivan Šarić.
His favorite piece is the rook.
Grgur is the head of the Croatian army, though naturally answers to Vlatka. He is genuinely willing to simp for her, and is not acting as loyal as he does to her due to DESPER shenanigans.
フィリップ・バルボサ (Filipa Barbosa) is how Filipa's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is unknown, however, many claim it's February 19th, the same as Fifi's, while Filipa herself claims it's March 19th.
Her favorite piece is the queen, which is what a pawn can become, and since Fifi's favorite piece is the pawn, many take it as proof that Filipa is Fifi.
Filipa's a character I've had in the wings for a while, and it's easy to see the appeal of her character. She's Brazilian Fifi, but claims not to be. She's never been seem at the same place at the exact time as Fifi, and she even has the same rating and title as her. The only question is whether her and Fifi really are the same person or two different people.
アヤネ・ロドリゲス (Ayane Rodrigues) is how Ayane's name is spelled in katakana. Her name in kanji is 明夜音, and means "reveal", "night", and "sound".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is May 5th, which she shares with Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki from the Quintessential Quintuplets.
Her favorite piece is the queen as it is the most powerful piece on the board.
Ayane is a half-Japanese and the most level-headed member of the Brazilian women's team. This often leads to her serving as mediator both for disputes between teammates and disputes between her team and other teams.
Now that the bios are out of the way, time to talk about the significant overhauls this chapter underwent compared to its original counterpart. The big one is that Vlatka is introduced now, where as originally it was much later, and that she replaces the original character who fulfilled the antagonistic role in the chapter. The big reason for this is that Vlatka essentially became what I planned for the original character to become, resulting in the original character quickly being relegated to obscurity. Not to mention, I abandoned the storyline I had in mind for her and her team. This does confirm that said team, which I'll confirm to be the Spanish women's team, likely won't be making an appearance in the revised version of the story here in the volumes. The other members of the Danish women's team, who originally debuted in this chapter have also been cut, as was the single chapter featuring a clash between the two. The game in said chapter will probably find it's way into the story eventually, but aside from Leyla and Julia, don't expect to see much else of the Danish women's team either.
Getting back to Vlatka, in addition to her now appearing in this chapter, so too does the Croatian men's team, though only Grgur is addressed by name. Obviously, my goal is to properly hype up this team for a possible future encounter with Team Japan. As for Filipa and Ayane, Filipa I felt was best to introduce early so as to establish the lore between her and Fifi. Ayane, meanwhile I decided was the best to bail Filipa out of the contentious situation.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
