The Queen’s Gambit/Netflix

I have previously and favourably reviewed Walter Tevis novel The Queen’s Gambit in the Rust.  

It tells the story of the rise of Kentucky born Beth Norman from orphan to world chess champion.

You cannot make chess a watchable game as it’s far too static and technical but this film of seven episodes gets over this.

Anja Taylor-Joy delivers a fine performance as Beth charting her transition from orphanage frump to glamorous chess star.

The film concentrates  as much on her personal relationships as her chess.

The most important one is that between her and her adopted mother Alice, a non-functioning alcoholic abandoned by her horrible husband.

Her interest in her daughter’s chess career is venal but their relationship is tender.

Beth’s other relationships are chess based.

Harry Beltkin, who she beats in her first tournament, is in love with her, American chess champion Benny Watts is more cool and charismatic.

The chess games are played out at speed often accompanied by music of the sixties.

I could just about work out the openings but the games were harder to follow. The film and the book did highlight the obsessiveness of the top player who can spend 6 hours a day studying the game.

It also showed how the Russians maintained their hegemony by coaching a player even when a match was in play.

It was the extraordinary Bobby Fischer that broke that hegemony with his victory over Boris Spassky in Iceland

The final episode sees Beth in Russia playing the world champion Burgov, a grim-faced man dressed in an ill-fitting suit that was the trademark of the legendary Russian foreign secretary Andrei  Gromyko.

I enjoyed the series of seven episodes.

The attention to detail in recreating the Cold War politics, locations, dress , home furnishing and attitudes of the sixties was impressive.

Beth’s determination to overcome prejudice and condescension will appeal to a modern viewer.

This is one instance where the film is as good as the book. I found both  life-affirming.