The Queens Gambit

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Anyone else watched this?

I've binged it over the weekend and really enjoyed it!

Loved the 60s vibe as well.

There is no way she would live in a communist state in the 60s. She would have had privilege but paid a heavy price by lack of freedom. This was set just as Chess was becoming frontpage news. Chess players in Russia were under the control of the state why would you wish that on anyone , chess for the likes of Korchnoi was a way out of communism
I was born in the 60s, chess players were superstars of the day Fischer and Spassky were household names in the early 70s.

The book makes it clear that defection wasn't a thought - in the limo:-

"She had seen almost nothing of Moscow, and she would be leaving in the morning, but she did not feel like looking out the windows. They had given her the trophy and the money after the game. She had done the interviews, had received her congratulations. Now she felt at a loose end, uncertain where to go or what to do. Maybe she could sleep for a while, eat a quiet supper and go to bed early. She had beaten them. She had beaten the Russian establishment, had beaten Luchenko, Shapkin and Laev, had forced Borgov to resign. In two years she could be playing Borgov for the world championship."

Netflix also conflated the final scene in the park - in the book she had been recognised & clapped on her first visit, in the last visit the old man she sat down to play hadn't recognised her.

Doesn't really matter of course - the scene worked exceptionally well as it was.

Have just finished the series and really enjoyed it.
I have some questions
Who was the guy who accompanied her to Moscow? Did the government give her funds for her trip?
Was the boy who offered her vodka in the hotel restaurant the same boy she played in Mexico City?
Was one of the school teachers a man dressed as a woman? I thought so but not sure, and wasn’t relevant to plot anyway.

@bruffin

Benny and Harry were played by 2 British child actors Benny was the little boy in Love Actually and Harry was Dudley in Harry Potter.

OMG I didn’t notice that Harry was Dudley!

I recognised Benny as Jojen Reid in Game of Thrones.

Dottywott
Rebecca Root who played the teacher is trans

I thought it was a CIA agent with her in Russia

@bruffin was that a plot point or just they happened to cast a trans person, do you know?
Why did the CIA go to Russia with her?

not in the book, so assume its just a casting choice.

Why did the CIA go to Russia with her?
Because it was in the middle of the cold war, to protect her and/or keep an eye on her

I thought it was a fantastic series.

I loved it too! As some of previous posters said, I didn’t really expect to. I was drawn in - started watching to see what all the fuss was about and expected to switch off after 30 mins of first episode. But it caught me immediately. The casting was great - and I thought they did a great job of showing her at 13. Loved all her chess friends - the ending made me weep (with job). They could have so easily gone down the route of hooking her up with a guy - and made that one of the main threads and so pleased they didn’t (perhaps because the book was written by a man).

As a PP said, I also wondered if Cleo was working for the Russians - and deliberately sabotaged her game against Borkov. But on reflection, I don’t think so - and I think it was gone to show that with addicts, they just can’t stop...despite the consequences.

Wasn’t sure at first how her relationship with Alma was going to develop - but sweet that there seemed to be love there at the end. And of course Alma died indirectly because of her own addiction.

I also thought they might make Beth mean towards Harry - but they didn’t.

All round gorgeous series, and Anya was captivating. Would love to see a second series but without the source material not sure how they would turn out. And in my mind it has ended perfectly.

I Really loved it too, just finished last night. I like that it was a bit deep but without anything overly sinister. The clothes are hairstyles are also amazing to.

Getting the kids a chess board for Christmas, I used to love chess so hoping to have a few games with them over the festive period!

Just finished watching it and loved it! Perfect series and agree that it finished just right - hope they don't do a second series.

It's great, I binge watched it overnight, too, and never regretted it. Their 60s vibe and music are perfect! I remembered some really good songs by The Vogues as well, I was a huge fan of their music and used some of their instumentials for my smartshow 3d slides but then I forgot about them- and now they are here again. The final episode was nice, even though I was expecting something tragic to happen.

I'm watchng & enjoying, but not findiing it particularly brilliant/spectacular.

I agree @diddl but it was so different and involved a brilliant female (with no rape or murder or anything other than her sheer brilliance) that that's what made it so spectacular!

For some reason my Netflix jumped straight to episode 2 when I watched this. Made so much more sense when I watched it a second time with the "missing" episode 😂

Thomas Brodie Sangster always looks like he's 12 years old though and in this it looked like he'd raided the dressing up box.

@FairfaxAikman

For some reason my Netflix jumped straight to episode 2 when I watched this. Made so much more sense when I watched it a second time with the "missing" episode 😂

Thomas Brodie Sangster always looks like he's 12 years old though and in this it looked like he'd raided the dressing up box.

Ours did exactly the same! We started with episode two then we were very confused when it went into episode three and we ended up watching the first two episodes back to front. I've been blaming my husband too! 😉