In the world of fiction, Stephen King’s word carries a lot of weight. And about six years ago, he publicly praised Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, which would go on to become one of the greatest TV shows to come off a chessboard. He compared the show with The Trial of the Chicago 7, another Netflix title and his favorite at the time, and said the Anya Taylor-Joy-led series had surpassed his pick.
The chess world seemed to agree with the horror icon. Magnus Carlsen, the world champion at the time, called the series “extremely enjoyable,” and the show’s chess consultants included Garry Kasparov. With its cast, direction, design, and a story built around a prodigy who has to lose before she can win, the series earned that praise one move at a time.
Stephen King and Magnus Carlsen Praised The Queen’s Gambit
On October 28, 2020, five days after Netflix released the seven-episode The Queen’s Gambit, Stephen King posted a verdict to his Twitter followers: “I’ve watched a lot of TV during this cursed year–I know I’m not alone–and the best of the best is THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, on Netflix. Utterly thrilling. I thought nothing would beat THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO SEVEN, but this does.”
Carlsen came at it from the board itself. He spoke to chess24 shortly before the Skilling Open, the first event of the Champions Chess Tour. He gave the series 5 out of 6 stars and said, “The optics were great; they did the chess pretty well with the games.” King did not hold back on one criticism, though.
The prolific author said he found the premise “a little too unrealistic” because he could not quite buy that Beth Harmon goes six years without a tournament game and then becomes one of the best players in the world within a few years. Such high praise coming from a literary legend and a chess grandmaster added to its credibility, alongside its massive 96% rating on Tomatometer.
Then there are The Queen’s Gambit‘s chess consultants, which included chess giants like Garry Kasparov. Kasparov was initially offered the role of Soviet champion Vasily Borgov by series creator Scott Frank, but declined because of the time it would take. Instead, he offered to help “secure the authenticity of the chess events.”
He also called it “the story of Bobby Fischer, but it’s a female version,” and picked the final game himself after sorting through about 700 candidates, settling on Patrick Wolff against Vassily Ivanchuk from the 1993 Biel Interzonal. His involvement in the series made every chess move look like a tactical genius, rather than an amateur’s one-shot ride to fame.
But the praise and acknowledgments didn’t stop there. The Queen’s Gambit was watched by 62 million households in the first 28 days. The series would go on to win 11 Emmys from 18 nominations, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, and Frank took the directing prize.
It was the first streaming series to win the top limited series Emmy, and at the 2021 Golden Globes it won Best Limited Series along with a Best Actress award for Anya Taylor-Joy.
Anya Taylor-Joy, Scott Frank, and a Story Built Around Loneliness
The Queen’s Gambit‘s success shot Anya Taylor-Joy’s career through the roof. Her portrayal of Beth Harmon is controlled and calculating; she almost never explodes, and the drama comes from the effort of holding everything in, whether she is facing a tournament opponent or an adult offering her friendship.
Her brilliance never comes from big spectacles, so the audience reads Beth through glances, stillness, and the occasional crack in her composure. The supporting cast adds to the show’s quiet mental gymnastics. Thomas Brodie-Sangster brings an easy confidence to Benny Watts, the rival who becomes something closer to a mentor.
Moses Ingram’s Jolene remains the show’s most steady link to Beth’s childhood. Both parts are written with enough care that neither character exists only to help Beth’s story along. Frank’s direction treats chess as an action genre. Taylor-Joy has said the sequences are “played out like action sequences,” and Frank defined the games as real positions, making sure everyone knew what each move means.
Pandolfini taught the cast how to play, handle the clocks, and move pieces naturally, and advisers on set in Germany checked that the boards around the leads matched the action. The Queen’s Gambit‘s colorful palette fills in the silence between every move. The series even won Emmys for cinematography, editing, production design, costumes, sound, and Carlos Rafael Rivera’s original score.
These accolades reflect how much of the show’s feel comes from these crafts, and cinematographer Steven Meizler makes a game of pieces on a board feel cinematic. The writing is where the set pieces shine the most, though. Frank has said he sees Beth’s story as the ultimate expression of what he calls the cost of genius, and her greatest fear is ending up like her mother.
Beth is portrayed as her own antagonist, so the biggest threats come from her habits rather than from opponents. The chess matches are trimmed to the minimum needed, so each game feels like a personal stake. The story was originally planned for six episodes and expanded to seven, so the matches would not crowd into a single hour.
The audience watches Beth lose, try again, and grow across years, with the grief of a childhood loss, the isolation of a reserved personality, and a gift that outpaces her emotional development all working on her at once, and keeps them on their toes until the last board is set.
Unfortunately, there might never be a Season 2 of The Queen’s Gambit, as showrunner Scott Frank feels the story is complete. Some fans may still want more time with Beth, while others see the finished arc as part of what makes the series work. The short run does make it a perfect watch over a weekend, and each rewatch teaches you something new.
- Release Date
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2020 – 2020-00-00
- Showrunner
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Scott Frank
- Directors
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Scott Frank
- Writers
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Scott Frank