By: Anton Massopust III

One of the best new shows on Netflix is “Queen’s Gambit”. It’s a really interesting story of a young girl, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her journey to become a grandmaster chess player in the late 1950s going into the 1960s.

Here are the episodes:

In “Openings,” Beth’s story starts with her in an orphanage where she learns from a janitor how to play chess and her relationship with Jolene (Moses Ingram). In the second episode, “Exchanges,” the story talks about Beth’s life after she is adopted by Alma. Beth slowly learns about high level chess and how to become a grandmaster. Her troubles continue as she slowly gets addicted to alcohol and pills. In episode 3 “Double Pawns,” Beth earns money playing chess, and Alma starts getting her into tournaments. Alma and Beth goes to Las Vegas to the 1966 US Open for Chess. Episode 4 “Middle Game,” Beth learns Russian to participate in a big tournament in Russia but goes to Mexico City to defend against a 13-year-old Russian prodigy. Beth loses the tournament, and also loses her adopted mother. In Episode 5, Beth goes back to Kentucky to live in her adopted father’s house. (She buys the house from him). She begins training for the US Open of Chess in Idaho with a former rival named Benny. Episode 6 – “Adjournment,” Beth continues training with Benny in New York. Her addiction to alcohol pills continues. Jolene returns after many years to help Beth who now only wants to drink her troubles away. In Episode 7, “Endgame,” Jolene and Beth journey back to the orphanage to put the wrong things right. Jolene lends her the money to go to the chess tournament in Moscow. Beth makes peace with her past and realizes she doesn’t need all these crutches that trap her in the web of addiction, to become a grandmaster of chess, but also to find herself as a whole person.

“Queens Gambit,” is a great miniseries that can make a subject like chess very interesting. If you notice, every episode’s title is a chess term. It is definitely worth checking out. The late 1960’s feel and costumes are terrific. The acting is terrific. I enjoyed the series, and it is worth adding to your DVD collection. Accept it.