When I first heard about The Queen’s Gambit, I’ll admit – I wasn’t convinced. It just didn’t sound like something that would excite me, let alone millions of other viewers. But then it premiered, and like so many others, I was completely hooked.
When the show finally dropped, the whole series was brilliant. At its core, The Queen’s Gambit is about Beth Harmon, a young orphan with a brilliant mind and a tough life, as she tries to make a name for herself in the competitive and male-dominated world of chess.
From playing in basement tournaments as a youngster, she goes on to dominate the competitive scene and even faces the world chess champion, Borgov.
Airing on Netflix in 2020, the star-studded cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth Harmon), Chloe Pirrie (Alice Harmon), Bill Camp (Mr. Shaibel), Marcin Dorociński (Vasily Borgov), and Marielle Heller (Alma Wheatley).
Here are some incredible facts about the show you probably never knew:
Did The Queen’s Gambit Receive Positive Reviews?
The show has received rave reviews since it aired four years ago. The Guardian newspaper wrote: “This is an absolutely brilliant series, the best TV show of the year by far,” while The New Yorker hailed it as the “most satisfying show on television.”
If you enjoyed The Queen’s Gambit, here are more fun facts from behind the scenes.
Learning Chess for The Queen’s Gambit
Before playing Beth Harmon, Anya Taylor-Joy said she knew nothing about chess, saying that her knowledge was “zero.”
While filming, she worked hard to learn chess moves and felt proud of how much she improved. Her co-stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Harry Melling also admitted they knew very little about chess before the show.
Anya said: “It’s up there with the proudest I’ve ever been of something that my brain was able to do because I tricked myself into believing I was a really good chess player.”
Did Anya Taylor Joy Choose Beth Harmon’s Wardrobe?
About 80% of Beth’s costumes in the show were custom-made, with creative input from Anya Taylor-Joy. Due to her close involvement and connection with the designs, Anya was able to keep Beth’s wardrobe after filming concluded.
How long did it take for the show to finally get into production?
Writer and producer Allan Scott spent thirty years bringing The Queen’s Gambit to life, during which he revised the script nine times and pitched it to multiple studios.
Each attempt was rejected, as studios doubted the appeal of a chess-centric story. Ironically, the series became Netflix’s most-watched show, amassing over 62 million viewers worldwide within its first month of release.
According to The Chess Website, The Queen’s Gambit is a super popular chess opening.
Beth’s Age in the Series vs. the Novel
The timeline in the series suggests that Beth Harmon was 15 years old when she claimed victory in her first tournament.
However, in Walter Tevis’s original novel, Beth was a 12-year-old prodigy when she won the Kentucky State Chess Championship.
Chloe Pirrie and Anya Taylor-Joy Worked Together Before
Chloe Pirrie, who plays Beth Harmon’s mother, Alice Harmon, also acted alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in the 2020 film Emma., where she played Anya’s older sister.
Another cool fact from the show is that Marcin Dorociński, who plays Russian world chess champion Vasily Borgov in The Queen’s Gambit, is a talented actor from Poland.
What are the cast connections in The Queen’s Gambit?
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Matthew Dennis Lewis, Russell Dennis Lewis, and Christiane Seidel, all from The Queen’s Gambit, previously worked together in the Netflix series Godless (2017), also created by Scott Frank.
The Queen’s Gambit Sparked a Chess Boom Worldwide
The show’s massive success sparked a global chess craze, doubling Google searches for chess topics and pushing “how to play chess” to a nine-year high. The book that inspired the series climbed onto The New York Times bestseller list nearly four decades after its original release.
Anya Taylor-Joy opened up about the show and her character in previous interviews.
On her passion for the role, she told DuJour: “They sent me the book. I devoured it. I got so excited and passionate about the story that I actually ran to the meeting. I had so many ideas.”
Before taking on the role of Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, Anya Taylor-Joy said about learning chess: “I’d never played, but I’d been fascinated by it. I feel so lucky that the introduction came from one of the best experts out there… It was important for me to understand the theory behind it so I wasn’t just saying stuff. People who love chess really love chess, and I wanted it to be believable.”
With just one season and seven unforgettable episodes, it’s a binge-worthy series that you can stream now on Netflix.