When audiences first meet Beth, however, her life is void of allure. Despite being centered around an occasionally dull game, “The Queen’s Gambit” is unfailingly thrilling, endearing, smart, and - somehow - a bit sexy. Taylor-Joy is supported by a stellar cast whose refined performances and superb chemistry present a convincing look into the 1960s chess scene.
Adapted from Walter Tevis’ 1983 bildungsroman of the same name, the show is not a treacly melodrama instead, it is a reinvigorated variation of a sports narrative, the sport being chess and the athlete being fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon (embodied by the exceptional Anya Taylor-Joy). French artist-provocateur turned semi-professional chess player Marcel Duchamp once remarked that “while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” If the imaginative and perceptive protagonist of Netflix’s new seven-part miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit” is any indication, American writer, director, and producer Scott Frank and co-creator Allan Scott share Duchamp’s sentiments.
