Mar 12, 2025
Author's Commentary #371:
Time to talk about Chapter 371: Four-way frenzy.
Four-player chess is back, and this time it's a free-for-all. I've been wanting to include another one of these gams for a while, but just haven't found the time to do so until now. That being said, it's also not easy to write four-player games.
This largely stems from the fact that there isn't a proper analysis engine out for it yet, and the fact that it can be cumbersome to write a long game. Out of all the chapters this arc, this one easily took me the longest to write and burned me out the most. Even though the game is only 30 moves, this is a 4-player game, meaning each turn can have up to four different players moving. Even though one team was out by move 3, there were still 3 teams left until move 24, with the game finally ending on move 30. In total, that's 84 individual moves I have to write, which is naturally complicated more by the scale of the 4-player board. This was a real struggle to write, but I felt the audience deserved to have a proper 4-player free-for-all game shown onscreen. Now with that out of the way, it's time for the character bios.
ファム・ティ・ユア (Phạm Thị Yua) is how Yua's name would be spelled in katakana. 友彩 is how her first name would be written in kanji and means "friend" and "color".
Her birthday is July 17th, which she shares with her twin sister Meisa.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
ファム・ティ・ユズナ (Phạm Thị Yuzuna) is how Yuzuna's name would be spelled in katakana. 柚凪 is how her first name would be spelled in kanji and means "yuzu" and "calm".
Her birthday is May 10th, which she shares with Vietnamese grandmaster, Đào Thiên Hải.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Yuzuna originally hails from Japan, but immigrated to Vietnam where she married and had children. She has an unbridled hatred for yakuza and is a gifted chess player.
ホー・ティ・フック (Hồ Thị Phuoc) is how Phuoc's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 21st, which she shares with Vietnamese grandmaster, Lê Tuấn Minh.
Her favorite piece is the pawn.
ドアン・ミン (Đoàn Mihn) is how Mihn's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is March 13th, which she shares with Vietnamese grandmaster, Lê Quang Liêm.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
レオンス・ラザール (Léonce Lazaar) is how Léonce's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is December 2nd, which she shares with French officer and naval engineer, Léonce Verny.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
アルノー・モリス (Arnaud Morrice) is how Arnaud's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is March 6th, which he shares with Jamaican-American grandmaster, Maurice Ashley.
His favorite piece is the king.
ペトラ・クロンホルム (Petra Cronholm) is how Petra's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is April 23rd, which she shares with Swedish grandmaster, Pia Cramling.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Petra is a character I've been wanting to introduce properly for a while now. Originally, she was planned to simply make a cameo after the 1st round alongside Agneta, but since Agneta didn't end up debuting then, she too had her reveal pushed back.
アグネス・イングランド (Agnes Englund) is how Agnes' name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 27th, which she shares with Latvian chess master and the one credited with introducing the main line of the Englund gambit, Kārlis Bētiņš.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
ダグマー・バーグステン (Dagmar Bergsten ) is how Dagmar's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is September 28th, which she shares with Swedish grandmaster, Stellan Brynell.
Her favorite piece is the rook.
フランシー・デリング (Francie Derring) is how Francie's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is September 16th, which she shares with Australian-Japanese singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and former comedian, George Kusunoki Miller.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Francie is meant to serve as a homage to Filthy Frank, who was the character created by and portrayed by George Kusunoki Miller, aka Joji. She's essentially a female Filthy Frank and is even half-Japanese and half-Australian like Joji. She's even considering starting a music career and is regarded as a good rapper.
マリーゴールド・フローワー (Marigold Flower) is how Marigold's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is May 20th, which is Flower Day.
Her favorite piece is the pawn, since it can blossom into a new piece.
The whole point of Marigold's name is that it is a pun. Nothing else, nothing more.
カンディ・コッテン (Kandi Cotten) is how Kandi's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 4th, which she shares with Australian grandmaster, Darryl Johansen.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
マートル・フォット (Myrtle Foat) is how Myrtle's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is June 24th, which she shares with Australian grandmaster, Ian Rogers.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Originally, Myrtle bore Valborg's design, however I felt it wasn't fitting the character properly, thus, I initially replaced Myrtle's design with Kandi's original design and freshened it up a bit while giving Kandi herself a brand new design.
イモージェン・クライヤー (Imogen Cryer) is how Imogen's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 8th, which she shares with Australian chess master, Henry Charlick.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
ミク・バチョヴィッチ (Miku Baćović) is how Miku's name would be spelled in katakana. Мику Баћовић (Miku Baćović) is how it would be written in Montenegrin (Cyrillic).
モーフィッド・バチョヴィッチ (Morfydd Baćović) is how Morfydd's name would be spelled in katakana. Морфидд Баћовић (Morfydd Baćović) is how it would be written in Montenegrin (Cyrillic).
ブドゥグ・バチョヴィッチ (Buddug Baćović) is how Buddug's name would be spelled in katakana. Буддуг Баћовић (Buddug Baćović) is how it would be written in Montenegrin (Cyrillic).
Their birthday is May 15th. The significance behind this is that 15 divided by 5 equals 3, which is fitting since the three are triplets.
Their favorite piece is the pawn.
The triplets are all based off of Miku Nakano from the Quintessential Quintuplets, with one even being named Miku. All share her signature pout, and are lacking in stamina, but that's where the similarities end. Unlike Miku from the Quintessential Quintuplets, the triplets are incredibly lazy, making them more akin to Ichika Nakano, who also hails from the Quintessential Quintuplets. Despite their names, all are pure Montenegrins, simply having Japanese and Welsh given names because their parents simply chose the names after hearing them and thought they sounded cool. As for why I chose to give the characters these names, I simply thought they sounded cool.
イリヤナ・グヴォズデノヴィッチ (Ilyana Gvozdenović) is how Ilyana's name would be spelled in katakana. Иљана Гвозденовић (Ilyana Gvozdenović) is how it would be spelled in Montenegrin (Cyrillic).
Her birthday is August 24th, which she shares with Montenegrin grandmaster, Božidar Ivanović.
Her favorite piece is the king.
Originally, Ilyana bore Morfydd's design and Morfydd hers, but I felt things worked better if the designs were swapped. Ilyana is the president of Montenegro, and holds the record as the laziest world leader. She is part of the Desperado league though, but does not posses a DESPER.
ミリャナ・マジッチ (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.
Unlike her compatriots, Mirjana is very hardworking and active, often being the one having to do everything for Ilyana 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.
And due to the fact that team Bulgaria ends up sticky and blue, it's obvious why I included them in this game. This chapter was originally meant to occur much earlier, but due to the aforementioned reasons, it ended up getting pushed back. This actually was a contributing factor as to why the Bermuda party arc got so long as I wanted this game to be included in the arc. I was even considering ending the arc, but having there be occasional flashbacks to said arc, but felt that wouldn't be a good direction for the story. In the end, everything worked out. Now just one game remains before the Bermuda party comes to a close. I hope you're looking forward to it and to the next upcoming arc in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
