I became obsessed with chess in early 2023, and since then I’ve always had the idea of creating a chess player, but the image of Millan was not clear in my head yet. Then I watched The Queen’s Gambit and decided that I had to. It is quite obvious that some components here took inspiration from The Queen’s Gambit, and also from Bobby Fischer too.

The problem with The Queen’s Gambit is that it did not fit with my interest in history. Because I am a historical fiction writer, I also decided to incorporate some history into Millan’s story. His weird personality was based on Alan Turing, and his experiences in Bletchley Park are shaped by both Hugh Alexander the chess player and Turing. He is the lonely genius type of character.