Spoiler alert: this review contains details about the plot of The Queen’s Gambit.  

The Queen’s Gambit, a Netflix adaptation of the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, follows the life of Beth Harmon, a young chess prodigy. Since its release, the seven-episode miniseries has taken Netflix by storm. The

show has been watched in over 60 million households within a month of its release, making it the biggest-ever scripted Netflix miniseries. 

The show opens as Beth Harmon wakes up in a bathtub after what seemed like a night out partying. Fully clothed, soaking wet, and with mascara running down her face, she rushes down to what turned out to be a very high-stakes chess game. From then, the show directly jumps back years to show Beth’s childhood where she discovers chess, learning the game from the quiet orphanage janitor Mr. Shaibel.

In a time when Beth was struggling to find her place in the world, she found comfort in the game that immediately made sense to her. From that point, in daytime she played and learned new techniques from Mr. Shaibel, and at night, high on her “vitamins”, she practiced by picturing her moves on an imagined chess board on the ceiling of the shared sleeping room of the orphanage. In the following episode, Teenage Beth is adopted by the emotionally fragile Alma, and they form a codependent relationship on drugs, alcohol, and chess championship earnings. From there, the subsequent episodes show how Beth progressed from a local champion to the troubled international sensation from the opening scenes of the first episode.

As one would guess from the start, the show is about addiction and substance abuse just as much as it is about chess. Throughout the show, we see flashbacks of Beth's troubled childhood where she was abandoned by her father and forced to live with her troubled biological mother. After her biological mother’s death, Beth is moved to Methuen Home, an orphanage where she starts her addiction. Beth’s addiction only spiraled out of control after her adoption as she started consuming alcohol and other drugs. And so, while the series is a coming-of-age story about the troubled Beth, throughout the series there was a lingering question of whether she would continue her stellar rise or burn out from the drug and alcohol abuse before reaching her ultimate goal of defeating the world champion.

The Queen’s Gambit’s stellar cinematography and aesthetics makes it one of the most visually pleasing series of the year. Anya Taylor-Joy’s portrayal of the mysterious, troubled, and charismatic lead is astounding. The creators also deserve huge praise for making chess look extremely beautiful. Chess, for people who have never played it or can’t follow its complicated game plays, can be quite boring and dull. However, the show masterfully portrays the dynamic, intellectual, and beautiful side of the game. Each tournament and each arena had a unique theme and feel to it. The creators have managed to bring chess to the spotlight without it losing its essence. Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster and former world champion, along with a team of other chess experts, was employed to help ensure the show’s accuracy while aiming for cinematic excellence. 

While it is lauded for its artistry, perhaps The Queen’s Gambit’s greatest achievement is its expression of feminist themes. Through its incredible writing, the show portrays Beth as a strong feminine lead competing in the overly male-dominated world of chess — and yet, she never worries about the prejudices she faces. She doesn’t hold it against her male counterparts either. Instead, Beth bends the world, turning enemies into allies wherever she goes — simply because of her brilliance. In the very unbalanced world we live in, such messages are of extreme importance, as they remind us of the work ahead — the work that still needs to be done to not only imagine, but live in a world where everyone with talent and hard work is given a fair chance.