The Queen's Gambit Netflix

Bump for the evening crowd. I finished streaming it since I spent the day with a friend that just got home from the hospital. I never know how to read tM/TV and it is about a fictional woman doing well in a "men's endeavor" but I really enjoyed it.

Just finished it, I thought it was really good.

I just finished it today. It was really well done. Nice vision of the '60s, the soundtrack built the tension when it needed to, and cool visualization of Beth working out all the moves in her head. Also I read that the details of the chess world were well-researched. I thought Anya Taylor-Joy was perfectly cast for the role, and she's quite pleasant to look at.

But as a story, it's kind of a cheap fantasy. Surely there must be a real story out there of a woman in the 1960s who succeeded in a traditionally male activity. And this story was obviously written by a man. When she first started entering tournaments, they didn't take her seriously because she was an unknown. But in a more realistic portrayal of the 60s, at some point there would have been fierce resistance to her even entering these tournaments.* (There's another reason I say it's obviously written by a man, but I don't want to talk too much about the plot.)

Oh, and this was the first time I heard Gnossienne #1 (the first thing her adoptive mom played on the piano). Mesmerizing!


*From a web page called "Women in Chess":

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In 1962, Bobby Fischer said, "They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat." Later, he attributed his words to just locker-room talk.

In 1962, Nona Gaprindashvili became women's world champion.

In 1964, Chessworld magazine featured an article entitled 'The Natural Inferiority of Women Chessplayers,' written by Norman Reider.

In 1965, Nona Gaprindashvili won the Women's World Chess Championship, who successfully defended her title against challenger Alla Kushnir.

In 1977, Nona Gaprindashvili of Soviet Georgia became the first woman to take first place in a men's chess tournament when she tied for first place at Lone Pine, California (she beat 4 male grandmasters). In 1978 Nona Gaprindashvili became the first woman to be given the men's International Grandmaster title.

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I included the items about Nona Gaprindashvili because when Beth goes to Moscow in 1968, it's mentioned that Nona Gaprindashvili was the women's world chess champion, but she had never competed against the men.

The show is a work of fiction, but does show the effects of trying to make it big in world chess circles.

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Just couldn’t stop.

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I felt the same way. The novel was written by Walter Tevis who also wrote The Husler, The Color of Money, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I plan to pick up the book at some point.

I liked it a lot.

I think he said women lacked creativity and therefore could never be truly great at chess.

I just re-watched Searching for Bobby Fischer (really good movie) and Pawn Sacrifice (okay movie) so I'll have to check this out.

Watched 5 yesterday and was going to save the final two for today. Couldn’t do it - ended up finishing it off last night. Really enjoyed it.

Watched the first couple of episodes with the wife tonight. Very interesting.

We just finished the first episode. The end of that episode was amazing.