Feb 20, 2025
Author's Commentary #356:
Time to talk about Chapter 356: The scarred man's secret.
The time has come to finally introduce another maestro, proper. Alexandre has been a character I've had waiting in the wings for months, so naturally there's a lot to discuss with him. But first, let's do the bios.
アレクサンドル・ベアリュー (Alexandre Bealieu) is how Alexandre's name would be written in katakana.
His birthday is March 7th, which he shares with French chess master and top chess player of the early 18th century, Alexandre Deschapelles.
His favorite piece is the rook, as it is often his lifesaver in endgames.
グットルム・ビョルンセス (Guttorm Bjørnseth) is how Guttrom's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is September 25th, which was the date the battle of Stamford bridge took place.
His favorite piece is the rook, since it's the most berserker-like piece.
ラッセ・ボルゲ (Lasse Borge) is how Lasse's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is June 2nd, which he shares with Norwegian grandmaster, Jon Ludvig Hammer.
His favorite piece is the knight.
マグナー・ダグスランド (Magnar Dagsland) is how Magnar's name would be spelled in katakana.
His birthday is June 10th, which he shares with Norwegian grandmaster, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen.
His favorite piece is the bishop.
オーレ・ケデリグ (Ole Kjedelig) is how Ole's name would be spelled in katakana. His surname is quite literally the Norwegian word for "boring", making his name, "Ole Boring".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
His birthday is January 1st, which is New Year's Day.
His favorite piece is the queen.
Ole is a character I've had in my head for a while. He's a very generic guy, and plays like the average grandmaster. Basically, in a video game adaptation of the series, when given the chance to face Norway, Magnus Carlsen would sit out, meaning you'd face Ole at the top board instead.
Getting back to Alexandre, if you recall, I first hyped him up way back when I made a note about how I didn't want Cypress to have his birthday on March 7th. That was because I wanted the date to be Alexandre's birthday. Even though this chapter is his official debut, I will confirm that he was present during the various WWCF meeting chapters sprinkled throughout the story, so in an anime adaptation, he'd naturally show up in those respective chapters' adaptations. He was naturally designed around the same time too, but I really only finalized his character a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, it feels good to finally have him debut properly in the story. Now just one maestro has yet to properly debut in the story. See if you can guess what nation they're from before it's revealed in the story.
One final thing to talk about is Stanford brua. Ved Stanford brua is essentially the Norwegians' theme, which is a folk song about the historical battle of Stamford bridge in 1066. Amelia's comments about the berserker will also have significance later on as well, so look forward to when the topic comes up again in the series.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
