The Queen's Gambit || Raw. Lethal. Chess.

So, I’ve been interested in Chess for the longest time. Okay, maybe not exactly for the longest time. I think I had interest in at some point in high school, and then I dropped off because I may have felt I wasn’t smart enough for it? Which is totally a lie, anyway. This series, as you may have guessed, awakened that need in me to learn to play chess. Or something like that...

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

Nine year old Elizabeth Harmon has just lost her Mom in a car crash in Lexington, Kentucky, and is now taken to Methuen Home for Girls. There, she and the other girls are given tranquilizers to make them more compliant, and as to be expected, most of these kids get addicted to this pill.

Elizabeth is sent to clean the dusters in the basement one day where she notices Mr. Shaibel playing chess with himself. After several rejections and refusals from him, he eventually agrees to teach her to play chess. Till Elizabeth is adopted by Alma and her husband, she learns to play chess by Mr. Shaibel, who is pivotal to her growth and discovers that she is a prodigy.

My Thoughts and Rating

I was hooked on this series from start to finish. I think what aided that was the fact that it was basically a miniseries of seven episodes. So, in between a busy schedule, I could finish it. I love how realistic this series was in emphasizing the challenges people have and struggle with when it comes to addiction.

You may not like all the decisions our protagonist makes. But those are the decisions she makes and it humanizes her more than anything. I hate how she fell into a relapse when it felt to me like she was finally getting her life in track, but doesn’t that show how we struggle to come out of something and then fall back into it time and again.

I was intrigued by the effect of the pills, though. How the images would form on her ceiling. The chess board and the pieces while she moved them mentally and perfected her craft. More than anything, that self-practice that was fostered by hallucination made her gain true mastery of the craft. Notice I keep saying craft instead of game? It just feels like an insult calling something as profound as Chess a mere game.

Elizabeth lived a lot in isolation, and apart from her adopted mother who was her rock throughout this, it felt like she had no one. Which isn’t true because at different points in her life, she was surrounded by love. By people who genuinely rooted for her. Mr. Shaibel, Jolene, Benny, Beltik, Townes and even Annette Packer, a young girl who just said kind words at the right time and contributed to our protagonist taking that final step towards getting her life in order, showed that this was a lady surrounded by people who cared.

Also, I forgot to add that this is a coming-of-age film, so it was a true delight seeing how Elizabeth transformed from the awkward, unsure kid to the sultry, confident queen she became. It was done in such a smooth way, the evolution is too beautiful to describe. I loved that part. Deeply.

Chess is beautiful. Chess is raw. Chess is lethal. You may not like it, or even Elizabeth who was unlikeable at certain points, but you gain immense respect for Chess as a whole and the people who play it. Will I learn how to play it after this? Most likely. But I don’t know, where to start with something so beautiful?

I may just get lost in the labyrinth of names, openings, tactics and the rest. I’ve realized that you need to read a lot, research a lot, learn and practice a lot if you want to be good at chess. Do I have the wherewithal to do that at this point in my life? I doubt. But who knows? Giving The Queen’s Gambit an 8.5/10. Minus points because I did not get to see what became of that adorable Russian boy who wanted to experience a drive-in cinema.

Jhymi🖤

_{Images from IMDB.}

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