48 Fun Facts About The Queen's Gambit

Who plays Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit?

Anya Taylor-Joy trained in ballet until she was 15, and it helped: she learned each game's moves as what she called "choreography with your fingers".

The Queen's Gambit is based on a 1983 novel by which author?

Walter Tevis drew on his own childhood: diagnosed with a rheumatic heart, he was given heavy drug doses in hospital, which he said is where Beth's dependency comes from.

Who wrote and directed every episode of The Queen's Gambit?

Scott Frank read the novel in the 1990s and tried to make it as a film. It only got made once Netflix let him stretch the story across a whole series.

In The Queen's Gambit, a Christian group will pay for Beth's final tournament trip if she does what?

Makes an anti-Soviet statement: Beth calls the idea nonsense and hands the group its money back, which leaves her unable to afford the trip until Jolene lends her savings.

How is Beth orphaned in The Queen's Gambit?

A car crash kills her mother. Later flashbacks suggest it was no accident: she drives into an oncoming truck after Beth's father refuses to take the girl in.

In The Queen's Gambit, Beth grows up in which Kentucky city?

Lexington is where the novel's author was moved at 11 and bullied at school as an outsider, a loneliness he handed on to Beth.

What is the name of the orphanage where Beth learns chess in The Queen's Gambit?

Methuen Home for Girls hands out daily tranquilizers to keep its orphans calm. When the state outlaws the practice, nine-year-old Beth is left in withdrawal.

In The Queen's Gambit, which custodian teaches nine-year-old Beth to play chess in the basement?

Mr. Shaibel refuses at first. He gives in only after she shows she has already worked out how every piece moves just by watching him play alone.

Who plays the orphanage custodian who teaches Beth chess in The Queen's Gambit?

Bill Camp's custodian never sees Beth again after she is adopted. After his death she finds his basement wall covered with clippings of her whole career.

Who plays Jolene, Beth's closest childhood friend, in The Queen's Gambit?

Moses Ingram auditioned a month after graduating from the Yale School of Drama in 2019. Jolene brought her an Emmy nomination.

Which actress and director plays Alma, Beth's adoptive mother, in The Queen's Gambit?

Marielle Heller was first cast in the small part of Beth's birth mother. When the actress due to play Alma dropped out, the director, a friend, moved her up.

In The Queen's Gambit, what is the surname of the couple who adopt Beth?

Wheatley: the husband, a travelling salesman, soon walks out, and Alma and Beth agree to keep it quiet so that Beth is not sent back to the orphanage.

The Queen's Gambit's writer-director and composer had earlier teamed up on which Netflix western?

Godless began as a film script that grew into an Emmy-winning drama. Its success led Netflix to let the same team reshape a long-stalled chess film the same way.

Who plays the brash U.S. champion Benny Watts in The Queen's Gambit?

Thomas Brodie-Sangster's Benny hands Beth her first tournament defeat, then turns trainer and ally, rallying friends by phone to help her prepare for Borgov.

Which actor from the Potter films plays Kentucky champion Beltik in The Queen's Gambit?

Harry Melling played Dudley Dursley, then lost so much weight as he grew up that he had to wear a fat suit for his last Potter film.

In The Queen's Gambit, in which city does Beth lose to Benny Watts yet share the U.S. Open title?

Las Vegas hosts the 1966 U.S. Open, where Benny rattles Beth by pointing out a flaw in one of her old wins, then beats her the next day.

In which city does Beth finally beat Borgov in The Queen's Gambit?

Moscow is where Beth plays clean: she flushes away her tranquilizers before the final and still pictures the winning moves without them.

In The Queen's Gambit, Beth's late mother, Alice, earned a Ph.D. in which subject at Cornell?

Mathematics: despite the Cornell doctorate, flashbacks show Alice raising Beth in a trailer as her mental health unravels.

In The Queen's Gambit, where does Beth visualize chess games at night?

On the ceiling above her bed: she hides her daily tranquilizers and takes them at night, convinced they help her see whole games play out.

In The Queen's Gambit, where does Beth first lose to Borgov?

Mexico City: Borgov surprises her with an offbeat opening, and she goes back to the hotel room to tell Alma, only to find her dead.

In The Queen's Gambit, Alma's death is attributed to which suspected illness?

Hepatitis is the doctors' guess, likely worsened by her drinking. When Beth phones her absent adoptive father, he wants no part in the burial.

In The Queen's Gambit, which Parisian model leads Beth into a late-night bender before the Paris final?

Cleo talks her into one drink downstairs. Beth wakes hungover in the bathtub, runs late to the board and loses to Borgov a second time.

In The Queen's Gambit, Benny repeatedly beats Beth at what the night before the U.S. Championship final?

Speed chess: Benny, a practised hustler, wins every round and empties her pockets, yet Beth beats him in the real game the next day to take the title.

Who denied The Queen's Gambit's star a 2021 Emmy?

Kate Winslet won the lead-actress prize for Mare of Easttown. The chess drama still left that season with 11 Emmys, level with The Crown for the most of any show.

The Queen's Gambit was the first streaming show to win which Emmy category?

Outstanding Limited Series had been HBO's prize in three of the previous four years. Netflix took it minutes after The Crown gave it a first top-series Emmy.

Which former world champion joined Bruce Pandolfini as a consultant on The Queen's Gambit?

Garry Kasparov designed the moves of the biggest games himself, reworking an obscure real 1993 grandmaster game into Beth's final showdown.

Most of The Queen's Gambit was filmed in which European city?

Berlin was picked because the once-divided city kept 1950s and 1960s interiors in rival styles. A town hall in Spandau became a Cincinnati hotel lobby.

After Alma's death in The Queen's Gambit, what does Beth buy from her estranged adoptive father?

Their house: he first tells her she can keep it, then demands it back to sell. Beth buys him out, throws away his things and redecorates.

Who composed the orchestral score of The Queen's Gambit?

Carlos Rafael Rivera was first asked for a score of piano alone. Once footage came in, he and the director agreed it needed an orchestra, which grows as Beth does.

Late in their final game in The Queen's Gambit, what does Borgov offer Beth that she turns down?

A draw would have left Beth level with the world champion who had already beaten her twice. She refuses it, plays on and wins outright.

Which women's world champion sued Netflix over a line in the finale of The Queen's Gambit?

Nona Gaprindashvili objected to a commentator saying she had "never faced men". By 1968, when the scene is set, she had played at least 59 of them.

How did the Queen's Gambit defamation suit end?

Netflix settled on undisclosed terms, after a judge refused to dismiss the $5 million claim and ruled that being fiction does not shield a show from defaming a real person.

Which actor was Heath Ledger's choice to play Beth in his planned film of The Queen's Gambit?

Elliot Page, the star of Juno, was to take the lead in what would have been Ledger's first film as director. Ledger died in January 2008 before shooting could begin.

Which 1980s teen star was once lined up for a Queen's Gambit film?

Molly Ringwald was the likely lead, with Michael Apted directing, after Allan Scott bought the rights in 1992. That version fell by the wayside, as did a later one with Bernardo Bertolucci.

Which David Bowie film is based on a novel by the author of The Queen's Gambit?

The Man Who Fell to Earth was, he said, another outsider's story: its lonely alien ends up in Kentucky, as he had himself as a boy sent there from San Francisco.

The author of The Queen's Gambit called his novel "a tribute to" whom?

Brainy women: he said he liked Beth for her bravery and intelligence, and that in the past many women had to hide their brains, "but not today".

What color are the tranquilizer pills Beth gets hooked on at the orphanage in The Queen's Gambit?

Green: the show's label reads xanzolam, an invented name, but the two-toned capsules closely resemble Librium, a real tranquilizer prescribed freely in the 1960s.

What is the title of the final episode of The Queen's Gambit?

End Game completes a pattern: the seven titles are chess terms that run in order through a game's phases, from Openings by way of Middle Game.

In the final scene of The Queen's Gambit, Beth gets out of her car to do what?

Play chess in a park: on the drive to the airport she slips away from her State Department minder, and the old men at the boards recognise her and ask her to sit down.

In The Queen's Gambit, Beth is bullied at her high school by girls from which clique?

Apple Pi Club girls mock her clothes at first. Once she is famous they invite her to a gathering, where she finds nothing in common, takes a bottle and slips out.

In The Queen's Gambit, what does Beth steal that tells her about her first tournament?

A chess magazine: it lists the Kentucky State Championship, so she writes to her old teacher at the orphanage, who mails her the $5 entry fee.

In The Queen's Gambit, which 13-year-old Soviet prodigy does Beth defeat over two days?

Georgi Girev turns the tables on Beth: for once she is the seasoned adult facing a child prodigy much like her younger self, and it takes her two days to wear him down.

In The Queen's Gambit, what job is Jolene doing when she reappears in Beth's life?

Paralegal: she is saving for law school, and she lends Beth that money to go and face Borgov, telling her that this is what family does.

Which grandmaster rated The Queen's Gambit 5 out of 6?

Magnus Carlsen called Beth's rise "a little too unrealistic": he could not believe that a girl kept from the board for six years in an orphanage would be among the world's best a few years later.

Which singer-songwriter was named in 2023 to write the songs for a stage musical of The Queen's Gambit?

Mitski said she was already a fan of the show, and an even greater fan of the novel, before the producers ever brought her the idea.

Which institution displayed costumes from The Queen's Gambit alongside those of The Crown?

Brooklyn Museum never hung a single dress: the 2020 show ran online only, with 360-degree views of the costumes set inside a digital model of its Beaux-Arts Court.

The star of The Queen's Gambit grew up in Buenos Aires and London, but in which city was she born?

Miami: she calls it a fluke, because her parents were only there on holiday, but the accident of her birthplace made her a US citizen.

In The Queen's Gambit, Beth takes night classes in which language?

Russian pays off in a crowded hotel elevator, where she overhears Borgov and two colleagues weighing up her style and her weaknesses.