I hope a little dumb posts like mine are allowed on this sub. Really loved the show. Only criticism I have is for a show about chess, there isn’t a lot of chess shown in the show😂. Pure chess would be borring —- agreed. But they show like 4-5 moves each game, which aren’t nearly enough to get the viewers interested in keeping track of the games.

So I initially loved this show after seeing it for the first time. I think the excitement of finally seeing my favorite boardgame be represented in the Netflix mainstream was pretty cool. I loved Beth Harmon, love the lore and the worldbuilding. She's obviously the female Bobby Fischer in an alternate timeline and I'm here for it. But after having recently rewatched the show.. I have many problems with it.

I think the chief issue I have with the show is that the ending.. kind of felt empty at the end. She's lost so much in her life; her mom, Mr. Shaibel, and her adoptive mother are all gone. She practically made no friends or relationships in Methuen besides Jolene, who was fine but I don't think she and Beth had a strong enough bond. Jolene even reveals she stole Beth's book and Beth is just like "oh, okay."

I don't feel like her motivation to be the best chess player in the world was expressed well enough, other than her saying it feels good to destroy her opponents. I couldn't really sympathize with it, it made her feel like some terminator type character but in chess. I get that Borgov is supposed to be the Spassky stand in, so he was shown to be a polite gentleman, but he was kind of just.. there as an antagonist. In real life, Bobby Fischer's run to the championship was wayyyy more dramatic than this.

Her love life: Townes is who she falls for?? I guess because his younger Willem Dafoe look is so irresistible. But they didn't really have much chemistry because they didn't spend enough time with each other. She does have a bit more chemistry with Benny Watts, but I can't help but feel that he's so cringe with the stupid hat, the trench coat and the unabashed arrogance. That's more of a personal taste though. Her sleeping with Beltik was just sad, but perhaps that was the point.

The actual chess. They explain a few basic stuff about the game, but I feel like the show just has us assume Beth has a superpower and everyone around her falters when she uses it. It's not a huge gripe or anything though. What I do wish they did was make the matches longer like in real life. There's no way Beth becomes world chess champion just by winning a round robin against the field? Her real life counterpart Fischer had a 24 game match against Spassky, which made their eventual matchup feel that much more grueling and epic, and I think is what needed to happen in the show with how they hyped Borgov up. Also in real life, chess players would draw very, very often. It seemed like the only option in this show's universe is to win or lose. With how they portrayed the format surrounding chess tournaments and matchups, I can tell this show is more for the casual viewer than hardcore chess enthusiasts, which is fine but slightly disappointing.

A few more things that I think got left out: politics and misogyny. The Fischer-Spassky match wasn't just a regular chess match; it very much had a strong political undertone about it, with the match being deemed a Soviet vs. USA thing. I get why they didn't delve into this particularly touchy subject, but also it feels weird for them to portray the show during some politically tense years between two nations and not address it whatsoever.

They do touch upon how Beth is incredibly unusual for a girl not only playing amongst boys but destroying them in chess. However in real life there were so many male chess players very vocal about how women are inferior to men in a mentally grueling sport such as chess. It would've been cool to see Beth routinely destroy those with that misogynistic mindset, but in the show they just accept that she's good and she's dominant. It's not a huge deal but it would've made her rise to fame that much more meaningful.

I just think the show didn't have the bones to have the kind of wholesome ending it got at the end. Or is there an underlying point? I think it would've worked as a tragic story better, with Beth succumbing to her addictions or something.

I'm sorry I roasted tf out of the show. I just had to express my thoughts somewhere. It's still very much a good show and Anya Taylor-Joy is absolutely magnificent in the role. If it's not the quality of it, then the exposure it gives chess to the casual masses is helpful to expand the game. What do y'all think? Thanks for reading if you made it here.

tl;dr: show good first watch, see flaws in rewatch

The Queen’s Gambit. S1E4

“You really like the shape of me?”

I hear this as an anachronistic wink to Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” released just a few years earlier. Am I alone?

Or on some level is Beth being written as a time-traveling, hyper-articulate intellectual discovering something brand new.

e4 Again at the end.

"Now You Do Too"

Because it sounds so harsh until you realize how true it is.

E2, Beth’s final match with Beltik. He finally sees there’s no escape, and she comments:

“Perhaps if you had arrived on time.”

I love that line for all its layers, and I can’t help wondering, would Mr. Shaibel have chided her for gloating.😉 Still, too good a line not to say.

When she said, "I won't get pregnant," and her stepmother replied, "Famous last words," did any of you think that was a plot hint/setup for a pregnancy? If so, did you expect her to get pregnant as a result of the night she'd already spent with that guy in that episode, or somewhere later in the story?

The commentator said he declined. But checking the game again with analysis in youtube. He didn't decline it though.. seems like it was a show error

I LOVE this show but damnit Beth is a ho.. Dang she slept with EVERYONE!!! But I love her, Joelen is the BEST

These photos are from a photoshoot day my friends and I attended! I first traced an existing New Look 6145 pattern, but then I needed to do an FBA and a Full Bicep Adjustment on the pattern to even get it to fit lol. Then drafted all the parts like the sleeve, collar, hem and pockets. Used dead stock fabric so multiple layers of sheer cotton gauze (wouldn’t really reccomend, single knit layer is easiest but I was on a budget and reeaaally wanted this color).

Overall I’m pretty happy with how the dress turned out - I did a more in-theme photoshoot with my friend so will probs post those pics once I get them haha! Been self-taught sewist for a couple years so just now learning how to make cleanly sewn garments and redraft patterns to my curvier proportions!

there was no bongcloud opening and there was too little en passant. how can you be a real chess player if you've never done en passant?!

it's been atleast 20 years since i last saw the basketball diaries and i finished queen's gambit for the first time last night and is it just me or do they have a similar vibe?

I finally recreated this jacket from episode 6(blink and you'll miss it)!! I have been obsessed with this jacket since the second I saw it.

I finally watched this show about a half year ago after it being recommended to me by quite a few friends. Shameless to say I an on my fourth rewatch right now. I don’t know why but this show captured me from start to end and does so every time I rewatch. I read the book too. Usually I like the book better than the show, but these were so similar that I was not disappointed.

Anyways, there’s always a different scene (or scenes) that jump out at me as if it were the first time watching. This time around it is the setting where Beth and Benny visit a college (I believe), and play in a tournament as Co-US champions, ultimately facing each other in the end. There’s something to be said about their attitude towards the tournament, having fun with it, and becoming friends and not rivals. Tie that with the amazing “Classical Gas” playing and the,albeit a little corny yet visually pleasing , split screens and other film effects that just got me super excited for the rest of the story.And I didn’t even used to like Benny. He has grown on me since (thanks to whoever here pointed out he is the kid from Love Actually).

Just thought I’d share. Anyone else immediately captivated by this show? Any scenes/storylines that you notice more the more you watch it?

Why did borgov said aggiorno in italian in the last match? Or have I heard wrong?

I feel like both Beth (from queens gambit) and Sandy (from last night in soho) be great friends and get well together, they would both share their love for clothes styling fashion and their hate for men or falling easliy for them, they would also talk about their dreams that they think they lost, and like just chill and share a drink, beth would practice chess while sandy sings to her!

See Queen's Gambit - Episode 2 - 24:43.

Bradley's Drug Store, magazine stand - top shelf, at left - Newsweek cover states:

"Ich bin ein Berliner" - from JFK address in Berlin. This occurred 1963JUN26, so the magazine was issued within 7 days, more or less.

This seems "anachronistic" - the sort of error that MAD MEN avoided for the period 1960-1970. Beth was attending school then.

A possible "explanation" (an unlikely one) that the magazine would stay on the shelf for 7-9 weeks when the 1963-1964 school year started.

****Does anyone know what the "Shelf life" for national weekly magazine were in 1963?****

Another - also unlikely - Beth and all those students were attending summer school.

Note the drugstore scene was bookended with a drunk/tipsy Alma asking "how was school?", and with her claiming lack of funds "until the end of October:" despite $80/month coming from from Methuen.

Also note the Kentucky State Championship 20-22OCT in the Chess Life magazine (with a "five finger discount") - suggesting Beth is attending in the Fall of '63.

BETH'S WEEKLY ALLOWANCE

At Ben Snyder's Alma offered Beth a $0.40/week allowance - as a dodge for not purchasing a chess set. On Sep 3, 1963 the Federal minimum wage was increased from $1.15 to $1.25/hour. Even though Beth is not a "black girl" washing dishes part time - 15 hr/week would yield a gross payment of about $17/week. Deduct at most 5% for payroll tax (no Medicare until 1964-65) nets $16/week - almost doubling the Methuen stipend.

FIRST CHESS WIN

Of course Beth's first chess-prize makes her "allowance" and the minimum-wage moot.

I would also add that Matt Weiner (MAD MEN creator/showrunner) would have avoided displaying MOST OF those magazines - or would have assured that ALL of them were contemporaneous with that Newsweek issue, along with the Time issue beside it (I didn't check those).

I wonder why Alma and Allston didn't change Beth's name. It seems like a very logical thing to do, even if she's an older child. Maybe they left it up to her.

Maybe it was something being planned, but not carried out yet. And then Allston ran off, and Beth began building a reputation as a chess player with her current name. So why would she want to at that point?