The Queen's Gambit is a very watchable limited series that manages to make chess engaging. That's no small feat. This will be the cause of a whole new generation of chess fans. Funnily enough, it succeeds by not explaining any of the chess whatsoever. That way, novices who don't know the first thing about chess aren't left out. But people that do understand some chess don't have anything to follow either. The drama is not in the tactics of chess. They discuss strategy without explaining the strategy. She moves a piece but it doesn't mean anything to us. She just looks good doing it. I do feel like there was a missed opportunity to contextualize the movie more in the Cold War. The final episode sets up Chekov's gun that never goes off; Borgov makes two unexpected moves in the game, potentially a signal that he wants to defect, as the State Department official had warned Beth to be on the lookout for, but they never play that out.
Anya Taylor-Joy is magnetic. The whole show does have an amazing look. The Sixties set pieces and costumes are luscious. Beth criss-crosses the globe like she's in a spy movie (but again the Cold War spies don't really factor in). I love the visual of the imaginary chess pieces on the ceiling. The camera sometimes sits right behind the upside-down piece so you get something like an over-the-shoulder shot where you see a fraction of the rook or knight in the foreground--it's an interesting choice.
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