Jul 06, 2025
Author's Commentary #364:
Time to talk about Chapter 364: Team Antarctic-Å vs team Ire-Arm.
My crusade to introduce as many of the teams before the second rest day is going well. Of course, that makes writing these commentaries all the more tiring. So without further ado, let's begin.
ビパシャ・クマラゲ博士 (Dr. Bipasha Kumarage) is how Bipasha's name would be spelled in Japanese. डॉ. बिपाशा कुमारगे (Dr. Bipasha Kumarage) is how her name would be written in Sanskrit.
Her birthday is September 17th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Bipasha originally hails from Sri Lanka, but moved to Antarctica. She's now one of the continent's few grandmasters. I actually was considering having her be part of a different team twice, but ultimately settled on having her be on team Antarctica.
アリーナ・ミミ (Arina Mimmi) is how Arina's name would be spelled in katakana. 益那 is how her first name would be written in kanji and means "increase" and "many".
Her birthday is August 17th. I chose the date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Arina is actually half-Japanese, but was born on the Åland Islands. I was originally going to have her be on a different team, but ultimately felt having her on team Åland Islands was the right choice.
インケリ・ホンコ (Inkeri Honko) is how Inkeri's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is May 16th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
バラ・アホ博士 (Dr. Bára Aho) is how Bára's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is June 7th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the king.
If you saw some of the old artwork of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, you'll have noticed that both Bipasha and Bára were originally members of said team. However, I ended up completely reversing course on my original vision for the team as I felt the personalities I had in mind for the original roster wouldn't mesh well with the primary vision I have for said team.
ソルヴェイグ・ベルグマイト (Solveig Bergmight) is how Solveig's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 8th, which she shares with Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, the first person to be born south of the Antarctic Convergence.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
Solveig was born in Antarctica, making her an Antarctic native. She's currently seeking to become the most famous person from the continent and frequently uploads videos of herself sledding down slopes and roaming around the land.
ウラ・クパリネン (Ulla Kuparinen) is how Ulla's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is August 18th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
ペンギ・マクマード博士 (Dr. Pengi McMurdo) is how Pengi's name would be spelled in Japanese.
Her birthday is February 16th, which is when McMurdo Station was first established.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
ヴァルボルグ・ユルヨ・コスキネン (Valborg Yrjö-Koskinen) is how Valborg's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is September 29th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
If you saw some of the old artwork of the teams, you'll know that Valborg's design was originally used for Myrtle Foat of the Australian women's team. I felt there was a better design for said character, so I redesigned her and ported her old design over to Valborg.
アグラエ・モンジュ博士 (Dr. Aglaé Monge) is how Aglaé's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is May 9th, which she shares with French mathematician, Gaspard Monge.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
オルガ・ホラッパ (Olgica Holappa) is how Olgica's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is August 17th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
フィデルマ・フェリター (Fidelma Ferriter) is how Fidelma's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 19th, which she shares with Russian-Irish grandmaster, Alexander Baburin.
Her favorite piece is the king.
If you take a look at her rating, you'll notice that it is above 2900, indicating that she is a member of the WWCF's executive board, much like Gudit and Orit are. The reason for this is simply that I felt there needed to be a few more executive board members competing in the tournament.
ドリアン・オ・アン・チャインティゲ (Doireann Ó an Cháintighe) is how Doireann's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 8th. The significance behind this is that 7 is a lucky number in Irish culture, while 8 is considered to be the number those named "Doireann" are said to be the most lucky with.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
マネ・テル・グリゴリアン (Maneh Ter-Grigoryan) is how Maneh's name would be spelled in katakana. Մանե Տեր-Գրիգորյան (Maneh Ter-Grigoryan) is how it would be spelled in Armenian.
Her birthday is September 18th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
クロイア・グラス (Croía Glas) is how Croía's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is July 7th. The significance behind this is that 7 is a lucky number in Irish culture.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
Not only does Croía share her surname with Sorcha, but her birthday as well. Though the exact relationship of these two to one another will remain a mystery for now.
ルシネ・タルカニアン (Lusine Tarkanian) is how Lusine's name would be written in katakana. Լուսինե Թարքանյան (Lusine Tarkanian) is how it would be written in Armenian.
Her birthday is June 17th, which she shares with Soviet-Armenian grandmaster and 9th World Chess Champion, Tigran Petrosian.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
キーヴァ・ペティ・フィッツモーリス (Caoimhe Petty-Fitzmaurice) is how Caoimhe's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is July 19th. The significance behind this is that 7 is a lucky number in Irish culture, while the name "Caoimhe" ranked 19th in a list of the most popular female birthname in Ireland in a 2014 survey.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
キーラ・オドハティ (Keira O'Doherty) is how Keira's name would be written in katakana.
Her birthday is December 21st. The significance behind this is that this date is one of the possible days the Winter Solstice can be on.
Her favorite piece is the pawn.
サルピー・トゥンチボヤチヤン (Salpy Tunçboyacıyan) is how Salpy's name would be written in katakana. Սալպի Թունչբոյաջյան (Salpy Tunçboyacıyan) is how it would be written in Armenian.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is August 16th, which she shares with Armenian grandmaster, Elina Danielian.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
Salpy was originally designed to be part of the Simien team. Back then, I had decided that the Simien team would mainly be a group of rock stars, which is why Salpy has such a punk design. However, I scrapped that idea and ended up porting Salpy over to the Armenian team.
Speaking of music icons, Zabel secretly is one, and Arpine is trying to expose her. This dynamic likely won't be properly highlighted, but I decided to at least add some context to it here. And with the bios done, it's on to the game.
This game was a fun match, with the challenge being writing out the justifications for why each character made the moves they did. Though I feel as though I at least succeeded in having each of the characters playing at their natural skill levels.
And now, the Bermuda party continues. I wasn't lying when I said this arc will be around 20 chapters long. Though to hype everyone up, I will reveal that not only will there be a game next chapter, but in a few chapters, Raymond himself will be challenged to a game by a high-leveled player. You'll definitely want to stay tuned for that, as it will be Raymond's first proper on-screen game in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
