Reviewing "The Queen's Gambit": a period piece that brilliantly captures chess and addiction

The Queen's Gambit stars Anya Taylor-Joy (best known for The Witch, Split, and Glass) as Beth Harmon, a gifted chess prodigy who began her journey playing chess with an old janitor in the basement of her orphanage. Throughout the series, she meets various other chess players and faces off against them in chess games that are often touched upon, but her struggles against other masterful players are largely a backdrop for her true struggle, with addiction and the pursuit of risks to cope with loss.

The acting is impeccable. Taylor-Joy's performance as the often-arrogant but ultimately deeply insecure Beth Harmon is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. Her facial expressions also make it clear to the viewer her current state of mind, mood, and thought process. She imbues the character with an almost casual understanding of how good she is at chess, occasionally bordering on haughtiness, yet her clear flaws and vulnerabilities shine through enough that she is still very likable. The viewer just wants her to succeed and climb higher in the world of competitive chess, especially as a young woman in the 50s and 60s, while also wanting her to not succumb completely to her obvious problems with addiction and her cold demeanor to those around her. Beth's adoptive mother Alma, played by Marielle Heller, gives the character a fitting sense of melancholy as a struggling mother who grapples with Beth's love for chess and their mutual emotional distance; Harry Melling, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster play Harry Beltik, Townes, and Benny Watts, all major opponents of Beth's. All three, despite being Beth's opponents, are very likable and form close bonds with her out of great respect for her skill and talent at chess. Beth's greatest opponent, worldwide chess champion Borgov, is shown with an ice-cold professional stoicism courtesy of Marcin Dorocinski, but he is shown to be a professional who never takes his bouts with Beth personally and is shown to even have great admiration for her skill at the game. All in all, every performance is simply captivating. The complicated chess moves executed throughout must also be noted, in that every move made is based on an actual chess move, and the actors did a remarkable job in behaving like actual chess players, making brief but calculated judgements on their next move and then moving all the needed pieces accordingly, with a sense of professional precision in their every action.

The plot seems simple enough, chronicling Beth's rise to being a formidable chess player able to stand on equal footing with the best of them. But it is actually a very grounded story most of us can relate to: a story about addiction, obsession, loss, and grief. Through the story of Beth's chess matches, we get to see more and more of her obsessive nature, seeking to fill the sudden void left in her life by the death of her mother. This leads her putting every ounce of her energy into chess, but she also begins to depend on drugs and alcohol, partly to maintain her performance in chess, partly to relieve stress, and partly to avoid with the ups-and-downs in life. Her devout attention to everything chess-related has also made her a bit of a pariah, isolated from others and unable to connect with many people in her age group, increasing the feeling of emptiness that can only be dealt with through more chess-playing and more substance abuse, perpetuating a vicious cycle not helped by her slight feelings of superiority due her status as chess prodigy and the fact that she yearns for true friendships and connections despite claiming repeatedly that she's fine with being alone. The series is about her winning chess tournaments and gaining recognition for her talents despite it being seen as not fitting for a girl, as much as it is about her overcoming her flaws and addictions to truly open up to others and deal with the losses in her life in a constructive way.

The costumes and the production design are also excellent, making great use of period clothing and cars to immerse the viewer in the 50s and 60s. The clothing helps reflect Beth's character evolution, as she wears frumpy and ill-fitting clothes in the 1st and 2nd episode, but once she starts winning at local tournaments, she discards that in favor of wearing the most stylish and glamorous clothing of the 60s, showing how she is transforming from an unremarkable orphan to a force to be reckoned with on the international chess scene.

All in all, The Queen's Gambit is a compelling tour de force from Anya Taylor-Joy, a showcase of excellent performances, and a beautiful display of the 1960s, all wrapped up in a tale of competitive chess and the dangers of addiction.