TV SERIES · 2020–2020 · USA
The Queen's Gambit
- Created by
- Scott Frank, Allan Scott
- Network
- Netflix
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 7
- Studio
- Flitcraft, Wonderful Films
44 archived facts 8 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
In a 1950s orphanage, a young girl reveals an astonishing talent for chess and begins an unlikely journey to stardom while grappling with addiction.
44 Interesting Facts About The Queen's Gambit
Interesting Facts (10)
- #001
Anya Taylor-Joy claimed that while she is not in real-life an exceptional chess player, she has maintained an interest in the game since production, remarking that she purchased an expensive chess set that would be a shame to go to waste. She added that her opponents are welcome to discover she is not the character of Beth Harmon.
- #002
When Anya Taylor-Joy first heard about the huge positive response to the series after it first aired on Netflix, she was on location in Ireland filming Here Are the Young Men (2020). After she returned home to London and went out for a casual walk wearing a mask and beanie, people instantly recognized her on the street because of her unmistakable eyes.
- #003
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- #006
During a December 2020 interview with Arun Venugopal on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air," Scott Frank said that Marielle Heller, who plays Beth's adoptive mom, Alma, was unsure of what her character's motivations should be and whether she is interested in helping Beth or just making money off of her. Frank recalled that Heller would ask him "and I wouldn't tell her because she's both, you know?... I think Alma is confused as well and trying to sort it out. And then, at a certain point, they land on a real friendship. And I didn't want it to be one way or the other. And Mari is such a great actor that she kind of worked with that, you know, confusion and in a great way. And I...think it's better because you don't know.... [Alma and Beth] connect, you know, through their mutual loneliness. And, yes, she does see it as a way of making money. They are in trouble. They are broke. But at the same time, I think a real friendship develops."
- #007
- #008
The first film Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth Harmon) watched in the cinema after moving to England was, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Although she didn't speak English at the time, she said that it didn't matter. During the Basilisk scenes, her mother held her hand in front of Anya's eyes. But she was able to peek through her mother's fingers, which gave her the opportunity to witness what was going on. She described it as the moment that made her fall in love with cinema. Harry Melling (Harry Beltik) played Dudley Dursley in the film.
- #009
- #010
Contains a major spoiler — show
Notwithstanding the series' artistic qualities and overall accuracy as noted above, it presents a few inaccuracies: In any official game, a player will almost never lay down his/her king to resign, it would be considered as vulgar (Benny just tells Beth it is not done in international games): he/she will stop the clock and/or shake hands and sign his/her scoresheet. It is highly unlikely Beth discovers the book about Paul Morphy when Harry presents it to her. Harry even lectures her on Morphy which is uncalled-for since the latter is extremely renowned. A player, however talented, could not so easily beat in simultaneous speed chess three premium players, of which a Grandmaster and the US Champion: the pace would be too fast over three different boards. Adjournments in official games were not negotiable, they applied after time control (generally 40 moves) when a player opted to or when the first time allotment expired, to avoid the game being too long. (For info this practice was abandoned in the 1990s with the development of computers and reduction of time allotments.) In 1968 USSR, a crowd would not have been allowed to cheer an American player, especially after beating Soviet Grandmasters. A Soviet Grandmaster would not have hugged and applauded an American player after losing his game to her, or any player for that matter. Overall, Beth's high win rate never occurred in modern chess era (after WWII), even amongst male players. Bobby Fischer had some winning streaks but not to that extent. Magnus Carlsen had a long undefeated streak but with many draws. Judit Polgar, arguably the best female player ever, did not come close to Beth's performance. We rarely see Beth practicing or studying despite the fact her highly competitive tournaments would have required continuous and thorough work. José Capablanca who is sometimes mentioned in the series was a "natural" as Beth is, but he played much more than she does and only before WWII when Soviet Grandmasters did not dominate the World yet. We rarely see draws whilst they would on average occur in more than 20% of high level games, even in the 1960s.
Production Story (8)
- #011
- #012
- #013
In September 2021, Nona Gaprindashvili filed a defamation case against Netflix, claiming Gaprindashvili was incorrectly portrayed in The Queen's Gambit. The case refers to the final episode, which says Gaprindashvili had never played competitive chess with men. In the 25-page case filed in the District Court of Los Angeles, it says, "Netflix brazenly and deliberately lied about Gaprindashvili's achievements for the cheap and cynical purpose of 'heightening the drama' by making it appear that its fictional hero had managed to do what no other woman, including Gaprindashvili, had done." The case documents went on to say that Gaprindashvili began playing chess at 13 years of age, became a female World Champion at the age of 20, and was the first woman to be awarded the title of grandmaster. "By 1968, Gaprindashvili had competed against at least 59 male chess players (28 of them simultaneously in one game), including at least 10 Grandmasters of that time." She also faced at least three world champions: GMs Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and Viswanathan Anand. The case was settled one year after it was filed.
- #014
It took writer and producer Allan Scott about 30 years to get this show into production. During that time, he rewrote the story nine times and approached several studios. Each studio rejected the show, as they believed that nobody would be interested in chess. Ironically, this show became the most viewed show on Netflix, attracting over 62 million viewers worldwide within a month after its debut.
- #015
- #016
During an October 2020 interview with National Public Radio's Scott Simon on "Weekend Edition Saturday," showrunner Scott Frank said that he first asked grandmaster Garry Kasparov to play the role of Borgov, which Kasparov refused. He did agree to serve as a consultant on the show. Frank said that aside from the obvious advice that Kasparov provided on designing the chess games during the tournaments, he also contributed valuable "insight into how a chess prodigy might feel. And there's a lot of conversation in the story that comes straight from him--the Russians discussing how she can't lose because if she lost, you know, she's an orphan. She's like us. What would she have?"
- #017
Not only was Bruce Pandolfini a consultant for this TV series; almost forty years earlier, he had also served as a chess consultant and proofreader for the original source novel. Author Walter Tevis thanks Pandolfini for this contribution in the novel's acknowledgments. In a 2020 article in Chess Life Magazine, Pandolfini also says that he was the one who suggested the title "The Queen's Gambit" for the book.
- #018
Behind the Scenes (14)
- #019
In an interview, Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth Harmon) said that before taking the role, her level of chess knowledge was "0, none." She went on to say that throughout the filming of the series, she was "invited into a very secret world..." "it was so exciting to be able to have the pressure of 'you have to learn this very complicated sequence, over 3 boards, as quick as you can in 5 minutes'..." "it's up there with the proudest I've ever been of something that my brain was able to do because I tricked myself into believing I was a really good chess player." Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Benny Watts) and Harry Melling (Harry Beltik) also admitted that they knew very little about the game prior to filming.
- #020
Beth's imaginary moving chess pieces on her bedroom ceiling were the work of VFX supervisor John Mangia and VFX producer Arissa Blasingame, neither of whom had much knowledge about chess until coming on board this production. Mangia and Blasingame provided over 700 shots for the series, including a virtual 1960s Las Vegas building. LIDAR scanning was used for the ceiling sequences in order to render accurate 3D measurements of the rooms and environments. Whenever Beth is depicted mentally moving chess pieces around her ceiling, all these moves were based on actual chess moves.
- #021
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- #024
Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth) and Gabriele Binder (costume designer) developed Beth's style together. Around 80% of Beth's period costumes were handmade for her and featured a lot of input from Anya. Because they worked so closely during the show, Anya actually got to keep Beth's wardrobe. However, the show is so successful, the clothes are temporarily displayed in a museum in Brooklyn.
- #025
- #026
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the final scene of the series, Beth looks every inch the queen piece on the chessboard in an all-white coat, trousers and hat ensemble. Binder confirmed the intention behind the look, saying, "The idea, of course, is to convey that she is now the queen on the chessboard and the chessboard itself is the world."
- #027
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- #032
Despite the series' artistic qualities and overall accuracy, it contains some inaccuracies: * In an official game, a player almost never resigns by tipping over their king; this is considered rude (Benny tells Beth that this is not done in international play): the player stops the clock and/or shakes hands and signs the score sheet. * When Harry presents Beth with the book about Paul Morphy, it is unlikely that Beth would be discovering it. Harry lectures her about Morphy, which is unnecessary because Morphy is extremely well known. * A player, no matter how talented, cannot so easily beat three top-level players, including a Grandmaster and US Champion, in simultaneous speed chess: the pace across three different boards would be far too fast. * In official games, adjournments were not open to negotiation; after the time control (usually 40 moves), they were applied when a player requested it or when the first time period ran out, to prevent the game from lasting too long. (For information: This practice was abandoned in the 1990s with the development of computers and the shortening of time periods.) * In the USSR in 1968, a crowd would not be allowed to cheer an American player, especially after defeating Soviet Grandmasters. * A Soviet Grandmaster would not hug and applaud an American player after losing his game, or even any player. * Overall, Beth's high winning rate never occurred in the modern chess era (after World War II), even among male players. Bobby Fischer had some winning streaks, but not this much. Magnus Carlsen had a long unbeaten streak, but with many draws. Judit Polgar, considered the best female player in history, could not come close to Beth's performance. * We rarely see Beth practicing or studying, whereas highly competitive tournaments would require constant and meticulous work. José Capablanca, sometimes mentioned in the series, was a 'natural' talent like Beth, but he played far more than she did, and only before World War II, when Soviet Grandmasters did not yet dominate the world. * We rarely see draws, whereas at high levels of play they would occur at an average rate of more than 20%, even in the 1960s.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #033
When Anya Taylor-Joy first heard the great positive reaction after the series was released on Netflix, she was filming Here Are the Young Men (2020) in Ireland. After returning to her home in London, when she went for a walk wearing a mask and a beanie, she was immediately recognized on the street thanks to her distinctive eyes.
- #034
The first film Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth Harmon) saw in the cinema after moving to England was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). She said that although she did not know English at the time, it did not matter. During the Basilisk scenes, her mother put her hand over Anya's eyes. However, she managed to look through her fingers, and she said this moment made her fall in love with cinema. Harry Melling (Harry Beltik) played Dudley Dursley in this film.
- #035
Producer and screenwriter Allan Scott spent about 30 years trying to bring this series to life. During that time he rewrote the story nine times and approached many studios. Every studio rejected the project, thinking no one would be interested in chess. Ironically, the series became Netflix's most-watched production and drew more than 62 million viewers worldwide within a month of its release.
Easter Eggs & References (3)
- #036
Mr. Shaibel gives Elizabeth a book titled 'Modern Chess Openings'. Usually called MCO, this book was written by Richard Clewin Griffith and John Herbert White and first published in 1911. It has since seen 15 editions, and has been described as the 'first scientific study of the openings in the twentieth century'.
- #037
The chess opening in the decisive game between Beth Harmon and Borgov was the Albin Counter Gambit where, in answer to Harmon's Queen's Gambit (1. P-Q4 P-Q4 2. P-QB4), Black (Borgov) sacrificed his own King Pawn instead by playing 2....PK4. The games in the book by Walter Tevis were often based on games from the early 20th Century. Modern (Postwar) opinion was that Black does not have sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, and so for many decades this opening was rarely seen in games at the Master's level.
- #038
Deeper Meaning (4)
- #039
When asked why the show didn't include nudity during the sex scenes like most cable shows do these days, Anya Taylor-Joy said, "With Beth, it's not that [explicit nudity] would detract from the story, it just wouldn't add anything. You're on this journey with her, and the journey is with her mind. There's not anything physical about it, apart from the abuse that she subjects her body to through substances."
- #040
- #041
Contains a major spoiler — show
The 7 episodes correspond to the 7 squares a pawn occupies from the starting square until it may be promoted to a queen when it reaches the farthest rank. Beth completes her journey from pawn to queen in episode 7. The promotion is also achieved in her game against Borgov in the final episode. The Commentator asks the question, "What will she do next?" with the dual context of the game and her life.
- #042
Career & Awards (1)
Life & Family (1)
- #044
Most of the actors and actresses are from Europe. Christiane Seidel is German-Danish; Chloe Pirrie, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Harry Melling, Patrick Kennedy, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster are British; Marcin Dorocinski is Polish. Although she bears triple passports giving her American-Argentine-British nationalities, Anya Taylor-Joy is herself also of 100% European descent. Her parents simply moved across the globe a lot, and their daughter was born in the USA. While three are from North America: Moses Ingram and Marielle Heller are American, Sergio Di Zio is Canadian.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia The Queen's Gambit (miniseries) — Wikipedia
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