The Queen's Gambit (2020)
The TV series The Queen’s Gambit (2020) is about a fictional prodigious female chess player in the 60s, who struggles with drug addiction.
Started watching The Queen’s Gambit. Seems very promising.
I like how the orphanage is not portrayed as oppressive, but just too boring for a girl in need of stimulation. Feeding drugs to every girl and insisting on religious upbringing are just bad ideas of the time period, there are no villains around (at least yet).
This is a great trope where someone in a lowly standing has a hobby where he is extremely proficient, but nobody knows because they don’t talk about it. I’m of course talking about the custodian who first teaches her chess. The trope is good because it’s quite real.
It does seem a bit boring that she is so far such a genius at the game. I think mind sports can be more interesting with a protagonist who is conflicted, and might even dislike the game. Taichi from ChihayafuruChihayafuru
is the closest that comes to mind. Well, this is just the first episode, it could go many ways still, but I’m worried there won’t be any meaningful tension.
This black girl Jolene is great. The cast of this show is in perfect balance.
Hah, pretty nice ending for the first episode. They stop giving the tranquilizer pills, so when her withdrawals become too bad to bear, she breaks into the medical office to steal some. But not understanding the drugs she shallows them by the mouthful and dramatically passes out in the middle of being caught in the act by the entire school.
The second episode seems to continue with pointing out how “inefficient” life used to be. She can’t buy a chess set or a magazine, the school is dumb and there’s no one to play with. The adoptive mother doesn’t care about her chess hobby because she doesn’t have the faintest idea that there could be respect and even money involved. However when she reads from the newspaper that the girl has one, she becomes a fast ally.
“Why do they only fill these bottles half full?” asks the adoptive mother on receiving a “new” bottle bought by the girl, haha.
I recently wondered about this, but taking drugs is not considered illegal doping in chess and similar games, right? Sure if it’s an illegal drug you could be disqualified for unsportsmanlike behavior and have to deal with the law enforcement separately. But otherwise there is no problem. Many people take amphetamines as medicine for example, which could be quite beneficial while playing.
I wonder if tranquilizers and alcohol really work for mind games. I’m not an expert on drugs, but my intuition has been that depressants are basically “all negative”, but can “work” for things like enjoyment, social interactions, and even creativity because some mental capabilities come down faster than others. The most obvious is the loss of inhibition to just get started, or speak your mind. I used to play a lot go while drinking and it never felt beneficial, just more fun.
Continuing watching The Queen’s Gambit. This series is so stylish. Beautiful places, fashion (especially the female lead), and also everyone is so laid back which gives aura of high class. I wonder if 60s were like that really.
This tournament is taking place in Mexico City, and it’s very international. Her latest two opponents are Russians and the important matches are being narrated by a professional commentator in Spanish.
This episode 5 with Beltik again is really nice. I want to see more relationships like that in fiction.
Really good stuff. Want to watch the last two episodes too but need to go sleep.
Watching the last episodes of The Queen’s Gambit.
I read about this pop artist once. Bought an original drawing by Michelangelo. When he got it home, he took a piece of art gum, and just… erased it… leaving nothing but a blank page.
I wonder if the original book author wanted to cover some Cold War topics, or did it come about just because Chess used to be a huge thing in Soviet Russia. I suppose it’s not that prominent, and fits well as an “end stage” / “lair of the enemy” type of setting.
Do you not leave the hotel unless you are with me. — Will you knock two times fast and one time slow?
Finished the series is now. It was quite uplifting and with great pacing, however in my book it wasn’t really a drama. It was pretty much smooth sailing for the entire time, and the conclusion where she simply stopped using the drugs was underwhelming. In recent years I don’t really care as much for this kind stories, but this was saved by very good style with regards to everything. Beautiful, to put it simply. Yet I also love many very “ugly” works of fiction.
