Written by: Kevin Berge
Nothing quite like sitting in the background watching a 4-hour-plus game of chess. (Image Courtesy of: bostonglobe.com)
Quick Take: The Queen's Gambit brings a dramatic edge to the game of chess in a way no other media has to date. Ultimately, this isn't as much about chess as the stress of obsession and success, carried by a great performance from Anya Taylor-Joy and direction by Scott Frank.
***This review will not contain spoilers beyond the basic set-up of The Queen's Gambit in the first episode. If you would like to go into the series completely blind, please take your time with the series before reading past this point.***
I started playing chess in late elementary school, but I didn't really start playing chess until I started at a chess club in 7th grade. Over the next six years, I fell into the rabbit hole of competitive chess that has given me a unique experience with the game.
For me, chess was an opportunity to meet new friends and always to challenge myself. I have never felt more mentally focused than I have across a chessboard. The thrill of exploring the lines of plays mentally over hours, hoping that I can outplay the player across the board, is unmatchable.
It's hard to truly explain how it feels to play chess. Without experience, it can be like playing any other board game, and watching it from the outside can be especially boring. Many have tried and failed to capture the thrill of one of the oldest games ever played.
The Queen's Gambit succeeds in spades. What it manages to do is capture the feeling of a great sports film through its characters, showcasing their success and failures through human expression over an understanding of the game as a whole.
The trick to any good media about being great at anything is conveying that skill to others. You don't make a movie or TV show to communicate just to those with experience. It is about universal experience, empathizing with the story and journey.
Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy with younger performances from Isla Johnston and Annabeth Kelly) loses her mother (Chloe Pirrie) in a car accident and finds herself in an orphanage where she meets Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp), the custodian that teaches her to play chess.
She quickly finds comfort in the game in a way nothing else can match, quickly outplaying him as well as everyone she faces. She is adopted by Miss Lonsdale (Rebecca Root) and begins to truly take the chess world by storm. However, as she slowly progresses down a prodigious path, the pain she hides and the pressure she feels build into a variety of dangerous vices.
This is the set-up, and the series is not going to surprise viewers much along the way. However, the emotional throughline is Beth, who is constantly fighting her own addictive personality and understandable loneliness. The game is the only true lasting comfort she has. Being the best is a necessity for her to survive.
I started playing chess in late elementary school, but I didn't really start playing chess until I started at a chess club in 7th grade. Over the next six years, I fell into the rabbit hole of competitive chess that has given me a unique experience with the game.
For me, chess was an opportunity to meet new friends and always to challenge myself. I have never felt more mentally focused than I have across a chessboard. The thrill of exploring the lines of plays mentally over hours, hoping that I can outplay the player across the board, is unmatchable.
It's hard to truly explain how it feels to play chess. Without experience, it can be like playing any other board game, and watching it from the outside can be especially boring. Many have tried and failed to capture the thrill of one of the oldest games ever played.
The Queen's Gambit succeeds in spades. What it manages to do is capture the feeling of a great sports film through its characters, showcasing their success and failures through human expression over an understanding of the game as a whole.
The trick to any good media about being great at anything is conveying that skill to others. You don't make a movie or TV show to communicate just to those with experience. It is about universal experience, empathizing with the story and journey.
Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy with younger performances from Isla Johnston and Annabeth Kelly) loses her mother (Chloe Pirrie) in a car accident and finds herself in an orphanage where she meets Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp), the custodian that teaches her to play chess.
She quickly finds comfort in the game in a way nothing else can match, quickly outplaying him as well as everyone she faces. She is adopted by Miss Lonsdale (Rebecca Root) and begins to truly take the chess world by storm. However, as she slowly progresses down a prodigious path, the pain she hides and the pressure she feels build into a variety of dangerous vices.
This is the set-up, and the series is not going to surprise viewers much along the way. However, the emotional throughline is Beth, who is constantly fighting her own addictive personality and understandable loneliness. The game is the only true lasting comfort she has. Being the best is a necessity for her to survive.
Chess players: the coolest of the cool. (Image Courtesy of: www.nme.com)
The Queen's Gambit defines chess in ways that feel universal. Those that play are driven toward success or give up. Beth cannot escape her need to win. In fact, she feels entitled as though no one else could ever touch her. She struggles every time she does fall short, but she is not the only one.
One of the most interesting characters in the story is Harry Beltik (Harry Melling), who is a prodigy that Beth overcomes. As he progresses, he ultimately finds his love for chess wanes, but he still wants to find what drives him. I related to that sense of love and loss with the game.
Chess is all-consuming. You either love it completely or casually. There is little in-between. While I can still watch from the sidelines casually, I know what the game can do to the mind. It is exhausting. There are few things that can warp the mind quite like an obsession with chess.
The show focuses upon this struggle more than the games themselves, but the games are not the typical Hollywood falsehoods. The play is genuine, and the game of particular focus are direct translations of famous games that were once played. The only oddity is how the show frames its history, omitting certain chess figures while focuses so heavily on others.
The series is set in the 1960s during the time that Bobby Fischer, America's greatest chess player, made his incredible march to the world championship. He does not exist in this fictional reality as well as his rivals Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov just to name a few. Fictional characters take their place in a way with Beth serving in some ways as a Fischer stand-in with less baggage despite her struggles.
The acting is largely solid in the show, though no one really matches up to Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), who captures Beth's struggles so well. Beth is closed off emotionally, and she fights her depression and loneliness with drugs and alcohol. It's easy to empathize with her struggles through Taylor-Joy's performance.
The series is based on the book of the same name by Walter Tevis, but it is the director and co-creator of the Netflix miniseries that keeps the show truly engaging. Scott Frank (Logan) shapes the series with focus, keeping the pacing consistent and driving to the point that it is hard not to get invested.
The Queen's Gambit is a series worth watching no matter your experience with chess. Beyond a few fictional omissions and the overdramaticized elements that don't quite land, this series is ultimately a triumph in showcasing how success consumes while allowing the fantasy to carry the series to a happy (if intentionally incomplete) end.
One of the most interesting characters in the story is Harry Beltik (Harry Melling), who is a prodigy that Beth overcomes. As he progresses, he ultimately finds his love for chess wanes, but he still wants to find what drives him. I related to that sense of love and loss with the game.
Chess is all-consuming. You either love it completely or casually. There is little in-between. While I can still watch from the sidelines casually, I know what the game can do to the mind. It is exhausting. There are few things that can warp the mind quite like an obsession with chess.
The show focuses upon this struggle more than the games themselves, but the games are not the typical Hollywood falsehoods. The play is genuine, and the game of particular focus are direct translations of famous games that were once played. The only oddity is how the show frames its history, omitting certain chess figures while focuses so heavily on others.
The series is set in the 1960s during the time that Bobby Fischer, America's greatest chess player, made his incredible march to the world championship. He does not exist in this fictional reality as well as his rivals Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov just to name a few. Fictional characters take their place in a way with Beth serving in some ways as a Fischer stand-in with less baggage despite her struggles.
The acting is largely solid in the show, though no one really matches up to Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), who captures Beth's struggles so well. Beth is closed off emotionally, and she fights her depression and loneliness with drugs and alcohol. It's easy to empathize with her struggles through Taylor-Joy's performance.
The series is based on the book of the same name by Walter Tevis, but it is the director and co-creator of the Netflix miniseries that keeps the show truly engaging. Scott Frank (Logan) shapes the series with focus, keeping the pacing consistent and driving to the point that it is hard not to get invested.
The Queen's Gambit is a series worth watching no matter your experience with chess. Beyond a few fictional omissions and the overdramaticized elements that don't quite land, this series is ultimately a triumph in showcasing how success consumes while allowing the fantasy to carry the series to a happy (if intentionally incomplete) end.
