S2 E8 Beth Harmon (Queen's Gambit)

During the 2020 Pandemic, chess caught fire due to the access of streaming and the Netflix show - Queen’s Gambit. In the show, we saw the main character, Beth Harmon, go from discovering the game to taking down the World Champion in one game. 

While the show takes a couple liberties to dramatize the chess scene - it is still one of the best chess pieces of media that are out there… and there are some bad ones out there. *ahem* Looking at you Geico chess commercial - don’t think you can sneak 2 light square bishops past me.  

The 1983 novel was written by Walter Tevis. There were original plans for a screenplay adaptation, but was called off after Tevis’s death in 1984. 

There will be some spoilers for the Queen’s Gambit - if you have not watched/finished it - you have been warned. 

Tevis loosely based the book on his chess experiences as a ‘C’ class level player, but the journey that Beth takes is loosely based on Bobby Fischer - poor, misunderstood child prodigy to the best of the world. 

The coming of age journey sees Beth being placed in an orphanage after her mother dies. There, the staff gave tranquilizers to the students to keep them calm. Beth becomes addicted to the tranquilizers, coupled with borderline alcoholism as she becomes an adult. 

Along the way, she discovers chess, defeats local players, goes on to the US Championship, wins that, then moves on to the International stage where she eventually defeats the reigning world champion. 

The show does a great job at capturing the chess scene of the 1950s and 60s including the rarity of blitz, adjourned games, various archetypes of players, and general etiquette of a chess tournament. 

The show also took painstaking efforts to ensure the chess over the board was accurate. Every shot of a chess board included a position from a real life game. I’ve included a link in the show notes of all the games and positions referenced, but here are a couple highlights. 

In Episode 1 where Beth is playing the school janitor Mr. Shaibel, the game comes from a 14 move game with Greco from the year 1620. 

In Episode 2, we see a game from 1955 with Nezhmetdinov (nez-met-deen-of)  vs. Kasparian.

Episode 4 is taken from a Bobby Fischer versus Bent Larson game with some tweaks. 

Episode 5 sees both an Ivanchuk game from 1995 and a Kramnik game from 2005 both of which… didn’t happen for another 30-40 years. But I suppose I’m splitting hairs. And - it wouldn’t be a chess show without throwing in Paul Morphy’s Opera House game - probably the most famous chess game in existence.

Episode 6 we get a game from Paul Morphy, the unofficial American World Champion. 

Episode 7 we get 5 different games referencing - Kasparov, Petrosian, Korchnoi, Ivanchuk, and Topalov. 

I’m glad the producers spent so much time researching and referencing real games to elevate the show. 

In today’s game, we are looking at a game from Episode 4 featuring Bernstein versus Capablanca in 1914. This is a touch longer than we usually do, so… if we’re ready - let’s begin. 

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Qa4 Bb7 10. Ba6 Bxa6 11. Qxa6 c5 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. O-O Qb6 15. Qe2 c4 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Nd4 Bb4 18. b3 Rac8 19. bxc4 dxc4 20. Rc2 Bxc3 21. Rxc3 Nd5 22. Rc2 c3 23. Rdc1 Rc5 24. Nb3 Rc6 25. Nd4 Rc7 26. Nb5 Rc5 27. Nxc3 Nxc3 28. Rxc3 Rxc3 29. Rxc3 Qb2 0-1

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1045315 

https://www.chess.com/article/view/queens-gambit-every-chess-position 

https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/