Dec 03, 2024
Author's Commentary #277:
Time to talk about Chapter 277: You're not number one.
The Icelandic team has been foiled, with Köfun being caught cheating and Ragnar losing to Okisato. Ragnar certainly isn't number one now, nor is Iceland, though only Köfun will end up getting punished since he was the one caught cheating. This means that Sportlegur will have to play for all the remaining matches.
Now that the match has concluded, it's time to talk about it more in depth. First off, as I previously mentioned, Japan actually did face Iceland in round 10 of the 45th Chess Olympiad. And in it, they won 3-1. Their one loss ended up being on board 3, instead of board 2 like in the story, but if I had known about this match-up prior to writing the chapters, I would have done it. It's possible I might retcon it, but I also like what I wrote so it probably won't change. But if I do end up retconning it, this is why.
As for Laura, I originally planned for Mimoko to be the one to spot the cheating and call the arbiter, but I decided the role fit Laura better. This decision in turn led to me fleshing out her character more, and gave me an idea on what to do for some of the other characters that have been introduced this arc.
Speaking of original plans, Canada was originally set to be the round 2 opponent for Japan, but I ended up shafting them in favor of Iceland. Canada could still show up though in later rounds of the tournament though. If you've seen my gallery, you'll notice I've been uploading art of most of the key teams. Obviously, I won't be doing artwork for EVERY team participating, but I do think the total women's teams I'll add will near 50. The men's side probably won't be as much, but I will try to at leas do art of the teams Japan faces.
Another idea I initially had was having Ragnar get away with his cheating and have Okisato try and spot it by viewing his notes. I backed off as I felt this would be a bit too much work, not to mention I wanted Ragnar's game to end in a checkmate. Since the game sis have a moment where Ragnar moving around the pieces could give him the edge, I decided to have him attempt to cheat there.
Now with Japan's victory over Iceland, things will shift back over to the women's side. To give a refresher, Japan's chances are looking good there too as they currently lead 2-0. All they need is a draw to clinch the match, which seems likely at the very least. Even though the Italy match is still ongoing, I will say that the Iceland match is easily the highlight of round 2 for me. The games were so much fun to write. This arc truly does have me motivated to the max, making it easy to see why I'm considering it one of the best arcs in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
