Queens Gambit

[jshriver]

For those who have seen it, what did you think of the mini-series Queens Gambit? Personally I absolutely love it. It lit a fire for my love for chess that had somewhat gone out a few years ago. The acting is phenomenal, the story line is solid and the level of detail to the game was sharp.

Love to hear all your thoughts and reviews.
As always, stay safe and healthy everyone.

[royb]

I am of a similar opinion of the Netflix series Queen's Gambit - my wife (not a chess player) and I both love it! It is so rare to have anything about chess on TV. It is even more rare to see people discussing chess somewhat intelligently, having the board set up properly (white square for h1, Queens on their proper color, etc.). AND to have a very interesting story to go along with that is just phenomenal!

I heard that Kasparov is/was a consultant for the series, so that must have helped a bunch also.

[Pi4Chess]

I loved the series too . It was interesting and entertaining for everybody (chess players and non chess players).
There have been some YouTube videos about the exact games played in the series, so they made them really realistic with Kasparov and other GMs as consultants.
Someone posted here an audio interview of one of the producers that bought the rights of the book many many years ago.
People are asking for a season 2 (because of this pattern of seasons in Netflix) but this seems very unprobable according to the producer who says that some things are unique and finished as they are. It's understandable because there is no other book to fill the story and that would be creating a complete new story from scratch... Involving more money and work with the risk to not reach the same level of success or not respecting the book author in the first place.

[jshriver]

some things are unique and finished as they are.

I agree, the show is a perfect self-contained universe with a solid start and end. While I love the characters, the story is simply complete

I'd like to imagine she ends up moving to Russia (she is fluent by now), and spends her days playing in that chess park and lives a peaceful and fullfilled life.

[Dokterchen]

This series is really great!

Daniel Kings explains in two videos the chess games of the series:





In this interview Garry Kasparov explains what he contributed to the hit Netflix series:

https://slate.com/culture/2020/11/queen ... viser.html

[Ozymandias]

Did she draw a single game?

[jshriver]

In this interview Garry Kasparov explains what he contributed to the hit Netflix series:

https://slate.com/culture/2020/11/queen ... viser.html

That was a wonderful read, thank you for posting it. Didnt even know Kasparov was a consultant.

[mwyoung]

For those who have seen it, what did you think of the mini-series Queens Gambit? Personally I absolutely love it. It lit a fire for my love for chess that had somewhat gone out a few years ago. The acting is phenomenal, the story line is solid and the level of detail to the game was sharp.

Love to hear all your thoughts and reviews.
As always, stay safe and healthy everyone.

This is a very good show! I have watched it about 5 times. It is highly recommended. And if you ever wondered why Nakamura and other GM's look up at the ceiling when playing chess. You will find out in this show.

[jdart]

I enjoyed it, as did my wife. It is a good engaging story. But I think it is not realistic about OTB chess in a lot of ways. For example:

1. You don't get to be a strong player by studying openings. Although later in the series she does talk about studying the middlegame/endgame.
2. Very few players get to be GM strength without having tutoring from an IM/GM level player. Her mentors in the series are at best FMs it appears.
3. She doesn't ever seem to do per-opponent opening prep or find novelties, although maybe that's just a level of detail they don't mention.
4. As noted upthread, draws scarcely seem to be part of her playing record.
5. Tranquilizers are not generally a performance-enhancing drug.

There are several parallels with Fischer's career though. Fischer became, at the time, the world's youngest GM as a teenager. And he was of course famous for his victories over the Russians, especially Spassky, although that was a hard road (he was in the Candidates as early as 1959, but did not qualify for the World Championship until 1971).

[brianr]

*** Warning: Spoilers Alert ***

I have also been enjoying QG very much, and have watched it 5+ times.

As to it being realistic about actual chess, while it may not be completely accurate (which would be intolerably boring for all but a few diehards), many have said it is in fact far more realistic than how chess games are typically shown (black on the right).

To your specific points:
1) Agree; however Beth is portrayed as an astounding chess prodigy, so one could look at it the other way (claiming artistic license). She easily wins the 12 game simul at the high school and does win the KY State Championship (championships of more populous states would presumably be considerably more difficult), but could have lost the final. That was with minimal coaching from Mr. Shaibel. From then on, she does suffer some key defeats.
2) She specifically trains with Harry and Benny. It is clear that she is far stronger than Harry. Benny was the US champ. During the final game adjournment, her "team" includes Benny and at least one IGM.
3) Here I must strongly disagree. On two occasions for she trains by reviewing games of specific opponents initially in general with Harry in KY and specifically v Borgov with Benny in NYC (for many days).
4) Artistic license again. Beth is very aware of draws but chooses to win or die. This stubbornness costs her the US Open title.
5) Major disagreement here. Although chess in integral to the story, QG is about much more than chess. From an early age she becomes addicted to pills (and later also booze). Accordingly, Beth believes she cannot do well without the drugs. In the end, with support from her friends, she finally breaks thru and is able to analyze without the drugs. If you watch carefully, she is able to do so (as shown graphically with the special effects) far faster without the drugs than she ever did under their influence.

QG is a fantastically accurate period piece. It folds in the Cold War (strong hints but nothing explicit that Cleo was a Soviet agent), broken homes (twice for Beth), institutional abuse of children (let's trank the kids and then punish them when they OD), how women were treated (quiet lives of desperation in the burbs), the usual high school angst, and albeit tangentially, minorities.

Is it not perfect IMO. Benny's character may not be miscast, but his wardrobe is jarringly wrong (seriously, the hat and knife??).
However, the way the music alone is used more than offsets some minor missteps. If you are from that era it is a minor masterpiece, IMO.

PS: It is also a rare case of the show being better than the book, although four of Walter Tevis' works became highly acclaimed productions.