Robert Cromey

Monday, January 4, 2021 The Queen’s Gambit, a miniseries about a young woman obsessed by chess, can be seen on Netflix. The show moves from her childhood in an orphanage to a world class chess player as a twenty year old. Her first teacher was the janitor in the orphanage. Given tablets to keep her calm, and a growing dependence on them, keep her going and growing in her remarkable natural ability to play chess. Exciting scenes progress she grows older, plays. In tournaments beating almost everyone. As a teen she plays six macho male players at once and trounces them all. Her quiet determined demeanour is played by Anya Taylor-Joy and a fine supporting cast. She falls into drugs and alcohol, picks herself up and becomes a star. The tournament scenes are believable, tense and even with a bit of humor. I loved the series and completed it in thee sitting. The propaganda of the fifties is that she has to beat the Russians. She delays going home to accolades by playing chess on the cold streets with older Russian men.