Five Reasons Why Chess Players Will Appreciate The Queen’s Gambit Just a Little Bit More
This Netflix series has struck popularity with the masses, but it’s the chess enthusiast who benefits the most.
The Queens Gambit (2020, starring Anya Taylor-Joy) has been, in part, responsible for the meteoric rise (relatively speaking) in the popularity of the game of chess. One of the reasons for this, besides the excellent acting, detailed plot, and meticulous design, is that it exposes an idea of chess that the public was not previously aware of. That is, chess is deep, purely competitive, and all consuming for those individuals who are susceptible to its addictive qualities. If the film had not been successful in conveying these themes, it would not have been watched by 62 million households over 30 days, which is the record for a Scripted Limited Series on Netflix.
All this aside, a tournament player, or really anyone who knows the chess landscape, will be able to pick up on some of the finer details the film exposes and understand their context. To me at least, this makes an already good experience a great one. Hopefully, in exploring some of these below the surface concepts and moments from the series, I can convince you that for some of us, The Queens Gambit is more than the sum of its parts.
There has Never Really been a Good Film on Chess
This may come as a surprise to some, but almost every film or series directly involved with chess has been terrible. I say almost because 1994’s Searching for Bobby Fischer is an exception (I think the film is good, but its debatable). The reason for this is that chess can act as a convenient backdrop. If it is done at all, the standard approach is to take stereotyped themes or concepts from the game and apply those to service the actual unrelated story. The translation fails because the director and writers do not really play or care to understand the game.
One cookie-cutter story that has been told countless times is that of the underprivileged youth who has zero chance of winning the national tournament. Predictably, they end up winning and ultimately gain some kind of deeper self-realization through the experience. If you like this story, but don’t want to sit through the bad acting, shallow plot, and nonsensical chess, I recommend watching the 2012 documentary Brooklyn Castle. The Queens Gambit breaks this mold and integrates real chess into the story. It is really a breath of fresh air for all us deprived chess players.
The Moves Actually Make Sense
Garry Kasparov (former world champion) and Bruce Pandolfini (previously worked on Searching for Bobby Fischer) were brought on to the project for the sole purpose of making the chess make sense. Overall, this meant that the games were real games, move orders where correct, and the chess environment was accurate. The actors were literally made to memorize seven move opening sequences, and act like they had done it a thousand times. Of course, some liberties were taken (for example, the drawn out conversations by observers during a game), but these did not detract from the overall competency of the chess.
Having a television show do a single scene where the board isn’t set up right, or the move is illegal, is for the most part, tolerable. However, when you have an entire movie centred around chess that gives you a completely different board position from one cut to the next, it tends to delegitimize the movie for a chess player. Issues like this speak to the overall competency of the production and the planning that went into it. The Queens Gambit production learned from these errors and outsourced professionals in an area that they knew they were unqualified to handle.
The Ending wasn’t what you Should Have Expected
Most chess players (and many outside of the chess world) know the history of maybe the greatest player of all time: Bobby Fischer. The original novel and the writers seemed to draw a lot of material from Fischer. He was a child prodigy, out of place, narcissistic, obsessed, and brilliant. At some point after the 1972 World Championship against the Russian Borris Spassky, he became completely delusional, paranoid, and eventually fell off the face of the Earth. Fischer really was a big deal during this time in the height of the cold war. He was on the cover of Time magazine, and made regular appearances on talk shows like The Tonight Show. When Fischer did go insane, this really solidified the idea with the public that all great chess players are insane.
The series gives all indications that Beth Harmon is going down the same path. Besides the similar qualities already mentioned, she spirals into some kind of drug induced insanity, and becomes completely disillusioned with the game (exactly like Fisher). However, by the end, The Queens Gambit performs a complete reversal away from this narrative. She ends up not hating the Russians, and in fact ends up finding her home, or her true place. Fischer, on the other hand, continued to despise the Russians (and others like the US Government and the Jews).
In 1992, Fischer participated in a tournament (a rematch against Spassky) located in Yugoslavia (then at war with Bosnia-Herzegovina). In doing so, he violated international law and UN sanctions. This resulted in him bouncing around Asia for the remainder of his life attempting to avoid US deportation. Out of pity, Iceland (who originally hosted the 1972 World Championship in Reykjavik), gave Fischer asylum in 2004. He passed away shortly after in 2008 due to a kidney failure. You can see that, without knowing the history of Fischer, and his obvious connections with the protagonist, the ending of The Queens Gambit will have not been fully appreciated.
There are Levels
In order to reach the top of the chess world, it takes immense skill, dedication, and talent. This is so much the case that the 10,000 hour rule will probably only get you to the National Master level. This is the 99th percentile of tournament players in a country, but it is a far cry from the international tittles of IM (International Master) and GM (International Grand Master). The chess community even distinguishes a level between GM and Super GM, which is an unofficial title assigned to those players above the 2700 rating mark (basically, top 50 in the world).
The Queens Gambit really does an excellent job at drilling this point home. Beth spends countless hours playing, analyzing, and studying the game. Even when she is not actively working with a board, she is visualizing the board in her mind and playing out the games. This is not unlike the top chess players in the world today. People have a tendency to severely underestimate the skill set involved in even becoming a modest tournament player. Indeed, this misconception occurs in many sports or games of skill. On many occasions, I have played someone who either has no tournament experience, or maybe they have “played in high school”. When they loose, and I look into their eyes, I can see that they are actually upset that they lost, like they thought they actually had a chance at winning the game. It is a classic case of big fish in a small pond. Sadly, these special type of individuals are more common than you might think.
In the beginning of the series, Marielle Heller, Beth’s mother (played by Alma Wheatley), is the definition of ignorance. She does not understand the game, disregarding it as a trivial pastime. After travelling around with Beth to various tournaments, she begins to understand the depth of the game and the psychology that goes along with it. As Beth continues to progress, she begins training with Harry Beltik (played by Harry Melling) who was her formal rival at the state championship. He realizes that he simply cannot compete with her, and that his lessons are redundant. I think that many chess players can relate. At some point, you have to stop and let the more driven and talented pass you by.
The Only Thing that Matter is your Rating
In a chess tournament, only your rating matters. If someone told you they go to a tournament to “have fun”, I would say that it is very likely the case that they are not being genuine. There is nothing worse than spending 24 hours over a three day period only to lose rating points. On the surface, there is nothing gained from the experience, and because of the time commitment, the opportunity cost is high. I have to admit, The Queens Gambit doesn’t to a great job at capturing this. Even the best players in history have terrible tournament results on their record. You only see Beth winning throughout the series, besides losing to the top seed.
What I will say is that the show does a good and accurate job of boiling down the tournament environment to its core components. When Beth enters her first tournament, she gets blasted for wanting to enter into the open section as an unrated player. Although the twins (Matt and Mike played by Mathew and Russell Lewis) reaction is exaggerated, it is not because Beth is a girl as one might assume. You are no better or worse than your current rating, and if you are unrated, you are not going to be given the benefit of the doubt. Your rating tells the truth, and unlike many other professions, your performance is not subjective or open to interpretation.
The reality is that during a tournament game, no one really cares who you are. 70 year old men enter into a tournament knowing full well they will most likely lose to an 8 year old child at some point. Its not that people are without their biases, its just that during a game, there is no room for it. Consciously taking into account factors other than a persons rating, opening repertoire, and strengths and weaknesses as a player would be detrimental to your tournament results. The fact is, during a tournament game, you are completely consumed by your own tactics, strategy, and calculations. The Queens Gambit, effectively takes this experience and delivers its intensity to the audience.
