[imagesource: Phil Bray / Netflix]
There are a few people in my life who are obsessed with the game of chess, but I personally don’t have the attention span for it.
I’ve watched some games in solidarity, but never really understood the appeal.
So when my partner suggested that we watch The Queen’s Gambit, in which multiple games are played, I was skeptical until I saw the trailer.
Already, the mix of fantasy, drama, and a compelling female character shone through, and the series itself didn’t disappoint.
Each game is enthralling, expertly played, and, even more fascinating, based on real games played by famous chess figures throughout history.
Over to WIRED:
The actors had to learn the moves; the camera had to follow them. Most lay people don’t know the significance of *1. d4d5 2. c4—the chess opening known as The Queen’s Gambit—but every time it’s played onscreen, it’s done correctly.
“Essentially I learned all of the sequences like dances and because I’m a dancer,” says Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Beth, “that was helpful in terms of remembering how everything worked out.”
While real-world chess grandmasters like Bobby Fischer aren’t directly referenced in The Queen’s Gambit, Fischer’s 1972 match against the Russian grandmaster Boris Spassky was known as “the Match of the Century”, and cited in the history books as a major event in the Cold War.
In the interest of not saying too much, I’ll let you figure out how that ties into the plot.
As an aside, chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen lists Bobby Fischer as his dream rival.
If you love the game, watching the moves is like watching your favourite sports matches over again. For those of us who aren’t versed in the moves, it comes with the joy of watching a master at work.
Check out the trailer:
Unfortunately, Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon isn’t real. A woman has never won an international chess championship.
The world of chess is historically male-dominated, with a touch of misogyny at its core.
(Last year English Grandmaster Nigel Short said that men and women should just accept they are “hard-wired very differently”.)
There are only 37 women grandmasters in the world, compared to 1 683 men.
No woman has won the World Chess Championship in the tournament’s nearly 134-year history (not counting the women’s only event).
Judith Polgár, who retired in 2015, remains the best of them all and was ranked world number eight at her peak. But she too never made it through the Candidates Tournament that decides the challenger for the world title.
Maybe The Queen’s Gambit will inspire more women and girls to take up the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD…
If you’re keen to take a deep dive into the final game of the series, here’s YouTuber Agatmator to walk you through it.
Massive spoilers in this one, so make sure you watch the final episode first:
[source:wired]
