Jul 17, 2025
Author's Commentary #502:
Time to talk about Chapter 502: The Chess Olympics' awards ceremony.
And now we really do get the sense the arc is truly at it's end. Team Japan has gotten their awards along with their new ratings, but before that I need to do some bios for both a character that originally debuted earlier, but got cut due to the revisions, and a character I retconned into Chapter 386: Discussing DSPCMs after all, just now.
ジギスムント・ヴィルチンスク (Žygimantas Vilčinskas) is how Žygimantas' name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is May 26th, which is the day the first portal sculptures were placed in Vilnius and Lublin.
His favorite piece is the knight.
Žygimantas is a character who I decided to slot in last minute as I literally created him just hours ago. There is justification for that as he will play a big role in the next Side Story.
ノディルベク・イブラギモフ (Nodirbek Ibragimov) is how Nodirbek Ibragimov's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is Januray 23rd, which he shares with Uzbek grandmaster, Nodirbek Yakubboev.
His favorite piece is the bishop.
Nodirbek along with all the other Nodirbeks were originally introduced in a deleted chapter where Kisha went over more DSPCMs. I'll confirm said chapter will likely make it's way back into the story, but since this chapter is now Nodirbek I's debut, I'm doing his bio here.
As for the chapter, everyone now has their new official ratings. It'll be real hard getting used to them due to how long they've had their previous ratings. One thing I will bring attention to is Iori's GM norm. Since I was unsure of whether I'd even include the Agatha match, I made it so that Zosia was a grandmaster so Iori would get the norm. After I ended up writing the Agatha match, I just had Sibylle be a grandmaster-elect, meaning she simply needed to officially receive the title, which she ended up doing at this very awards ceremony.
And now just two chapters remain until Season 7 is over. I have to say my thoughts on this season are going to be all over the place. In fact, I'll likely just make it a Kisha interview special as I feel it's easier to convey my full thoughts there, ironically enough. That won't be immediate though. First up will be something centering around International Chess Day, and then I'll likely feature the top 10 lists and Kisha interviews in the story.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
