The Queen's Gambit Cared More About Games Than the People Who Played Them
How many of you have watched The Queen's Gambit limited series on Netflix? How many of you fell in love with the beauty of the cinematography and the choreography of chess? How many of you dusted off your old chess set or went out and bought your first one as a result of your binge-viewing? How many of you were enchanted by the story of orphan Beth Harmon (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and how her stoicism and hardship was rewarded by an international platform where she was paid to play mind-games? Raise 'em high, friends. I know you're out there. I'd heard from many friends and saw folks on social media gushing about the series and so when I ran out of free episodes of Survivor right at the end of my semester (don't tell me things don't line right up in this life), I decided to check it out. I'd heard mostly good things but one sort of sardonic and vaguely scathing review from Louis Virtel on the podcast Keep It where he wa...