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Chess and Matt: Everything You Wanted to Know About "Queen Gambit"

The Netflix hit is the most popular remade mini-series in its history, the streaming giant announced this week.

Here's everything you need to know about the series that has already become a cultural phenomenon: Is it based on real events, who is behind it and in front of it, what do chess players think of it and more

Tags

• Queen Gambit

• chess

• Ania Taylor-Joy

• Netflix

Ido Yeshayahu

Wednesday, 25 November 2020, 07:08

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Trailer for the series "The Queen Gambit", starring Anya Taylor-Joy (Netflix)

Since airing on Netflix last October, "Queen Gambit" has become a real cultural phenomenon.

On Monday this week Netflix announced that it had become its most-watched remake mini-series ever, with 62 million people watching it worldwide over the four weeks since its release.

According to Netflix, the series stars in the service's most popular titles in 92 countries, and in no less than 63 of them it took first place, including Israel.

Like the rest of Netflix's reports, it's worth taking on a limited warranty.

Her measurement is limited to just two minutes of viewing, so if you sampled it for two minutes and then retired - congratulations, you are among the millions of viewers of "Queen Gambit".

At the same time, even if the numbers are inflated, and they are inflated, it is clear that "Queen Gambit" is a huge hit and it is.

Interest is particularly impressive given the theme of the series, which on the face of it is niche and non-television.

"Queen Gambit" tells the story of the success of Beth Harmon, a young orphan in the 1950s and 1960s, who gained world fame thanks to her natural talent for chess.

As a child in the orphanage she befriends the introverted server, Mr. Sheibel.

For the first time, Beth sees the game board, and after persuasions on her part, he also gets to learn from him how to play and is revealed as a prodigy.

But as always - genius has a price.

The orphanage provides all the children with sedative pills on a regular basis, which develops in Beth a dependence on addictive substances that lasts for many years afterwards, as she becomes a household name in the chess world.

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Dependence on addictive substances.

Beth played by Anya Taylor-Joy, "Queen Gambit" (Photo: Netflix)

What does it even mean, "Queen Gambit"?

This is an aggressive opening move in chess, mostly by the white side, that sacrifices my legs in an attempt to take control of the center of the board and put the opponent in a state of defense.

There is in this name to define the character of the heroine of the series, whose victims in her life are evident - her orphanhood, her addiction - but they do not prevent her from controlling and gradually becoming the champion, i.e. the queen of the game.

"Queen Gambit" is not based on a true story, but its characters are inspired by real people

Tabis' book describes the story of a fictional character, but Beth Harmon and the rest of the brilliant chess players in the series are based on a number of chess promotions from the period - all men: in part of the thanks in his book, Tabis notes that the characters were inspired by Bobby Fisher, Boris Spasky and Anatoly Karpov.

Of the three, several milestones in Beth's career are most reminiscent of those of Fisher.

Although he did not grow up in an orphanage but in a poor Jewish home in Brooklyn (which did not prevent him from being a huge anti-Semite, by the way - another big and welcome difference between inspiration and fiction, which probably stemmed from the mental illness he suffered from), he did not suffer from drug and alcohol addiction. .

Beth's accomplishments as a girl are reminiscent of his own, though in the series she was 15 when she began to soar in professional chess, while he had already picked up titles when he was 13, was the youngest U.S. champion when he was 14, and a year later became the young American artist The most ever and the youngest candidate for the world championship.

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Elevations.

Thomas Sangster and Taylor-Joy, "Queen Gambit" (Photo: Ken Warner / Netflix)

Spoilers for the series: The climax of "Queen Gambit", when Beth plays in Russia against Burgov, is a clear echo of Fischer's game against Boris Spaski, at the 1972 World Cup in the USSR.

Like Fisher, Beth won and became an American heroine, but unlike her, Fisher did not later go out to the nearby park and play chess with the seniors.

In addition, the chess battles that "Queen Gambit" presents throughout are reenactments of real quarrels, as the New York Times chess commentator has diagnosed.

As for Beth's addiction tendencies - it came from the writer's own life.

In his youth, Tabis suffered from an illness for which he received a high dose of medication at the hospital, which developed in him a dependence on them.

A similar thing happens to Beth in the series.

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Dudley Dressley has progressed in life.

Harry Mling, "Queen Gambit" (Photo: Phil Bray / Netflix)

The influence of "Queen Gambit" goes beyond the TV screen

The series is based on the book by Walter Tabis (who also wrote the books on which "Eddie Plson" and "The Color of Silver" starring Paul Newman were based).

The 1983 novel returned thanks to the series to the bestseller list (third place, currently).

The game itself has also skyrocketed in popularity.

In the United States, there has been a rise of hundreds of percent in the purchase of chess sets, stopwatches and related accessories.

Chess app downloads have skyrocketed by tens of percent.

The World Chess Federation (FIDA) recognizes the rise in interest - not only in the game itself but also in watching it on channels dedicated to it on social media and in major competitions. "The chess community fell in love with the series because it successfully describes various aspects of chess in full force," said a Fid spokesman. The New York Times: "It's light enough to be fun to play, but also complex enough to challenge. It's nerdy, but also cool and fashionable. It's incredibly competitive, but also full of interesting, creative and colorful characters."

In contrast, the world chess champion, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, finds "Queen Gambit" pleasing but very unrealistic - to be champions requires continuity.

"I just could not buy that for six years she did not play in tournaments when she was in the orphanage, and then she becomes one of the best players in a few years," he told chess24.com.

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Mostly directing.

Mariel Heller, "Queen Gambit" (Photo: Phil Bray / Netflix)

Where do the stars of the series sell?

The 24-year-old Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays the protagonist, Beth Harmon, has been rising and flourishing in recent years.

The actress was born in the United States but moved with her family to Argentina and then to Britain, and in her youth returned to the United States and divided her time between the two sides of the Atlantic.

The biggest role of before "Queen Gambit" was earlier this year in the cinematic adaptation of "Emma," based on Jane Austen's classics.

Earlier, she was featured in M. Nate Shamalan's "Split" and "Glass," in her lead role in the miniature series "The Miniatures" based on the book of the same name, and in the role of Gina Gray in "Picky Blinders."

Already in 2017 she won the actress award in excess Bbft"a and were separated from the Cannes Film Festival, awarded annually to the player and young player on the way up.

Alongside Joy Taylor-starring B"gmbit Queen "Thomas Brodie-Sangster, 30, son chess grandmaster role Watts Sangster had already starred as a child in "Love is the Whole Story" and "Nanny McPhee," and later played Eugene Reed in "Game of Thrones." 31-year-old Harry Melling, who plays chess player Harry Baltik, is also known As a child actor from his role as Dudley Dressley in the Harry Potter films. In contrast, in the case of Moses Ingram - who plays Jolene, Beth's best friend at the orphanage - this is her first major role just after graduating from her drama Bale.

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High profile in recent years.

Bill Camp, "Queen Gambit" (Photo: Phil Bray / Netflix)

Mr. Sheibel, the server who teaches Beth to play in the orphanage, is played by veteran character actor Bill Camp, who in recent years has gained a high profile in series such as "Event Night," "The High Towers" and "The Stranger."

He has also starred in films such as "Lincoln," "The Great Game," "12 Years of Slavery," "Joker" and many others.

Beth's adoptive mother, Alma Wheatley, is played by Mariel Heller, best known as a director.

Among other things, she directed "Will You Ever Forgive Me?"

Starring Melissa McCarthy, who two years ago was nominated for three Oscars, and "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" starring Tom Hanks, about the character of legendary children's show host Fred Rogers.

By the way, Heller is married to Lonely Island and Saturday Night Live man, Yorma Tacon.

The series was created by Scott Frank, who wrote the screenplays for some of the most iconic films of recent decades, including "Logan - Wolverine", "Illegal Novel", "Special Report" and "Catch Shorty" - the first two even crediting him for the award nominations The Oscars In 2017, a mini-series he created on Netflix, "Godless", came up and was and remains one of the most amazing products the streaming giant has to offer (though much harder to digest than "Queen Gambit", for your attention).

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