The Queen’s Gambit: A Real-Life Chess Champion on Netflix’s Addictive Hit
BY JULIE MILLER
When Jennifer Shahade heard that Netflix was adapting Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel The Queen’s Gambit as a miniseries, she wasn’t particularly worried that the miniseries would be as technically accurate as Tevis’s book. The two-time U.S. women’s chess champion serves as the U.S. Chess Federation’s women’s program director, and she knew the series would help draw females to the male-dominated sport either way.
“I’m not super sensitive [about accuracy]—like, ‘Oh, my God, are they going to do it wrong?’” Shahade told Vanity Fair this week. “With chess, I think the more exposure, the better. It always tends to be presented in a very positive light—as a symbol of intellectualism and the power of the mind.”
But when Shahade discovered that Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players in history, and Bruce Pandolfini, the celebrated chess coach who advised Tevis on the novel, were consulting on the series, she knew it would be realistic. After seeing the drama, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy as chess prodigy Beth Harmon, Shahade confirmed, “They just completely nailed the chess accuracy.”
Ahead, Shahade—who has written two books about women in chess, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport and Play Like a Girl!—answers our most pressing questions about how The Queen’s Gambit compares to the real world.
Vanity Fair: What are some of the benefits to playing chess, especially for young women?
Jennifer Shahade: Chess is an equalizer when you play. You’re not as aware of traditional boundaries and hierarchies. I think that’s one of my favorite things about it. I remember as a kid, sometimes I’d play against littler kids, and sometimes I would play against grown-ups, [but] it was like we were all on the same playing field. And I think that’s such a valuable skill for people—to not be intimidated and also to not feel better than anyone else.
With the rise in social media use and mental health issues with teen girls, I also think that the idea that you can kind of completely lose yourself in chess [is beneficial]. You’re certainly not going to be worried about any social media accounts at that point because you’re totally absorbed in the game.
What’s your own backstory with chess?
I learned the moves when I was maybe six, and I started getting more serious about it in third or fourth grade. I dropped out for a little while, which happens to a lot of girls in junior high school. I got back into it in high school because I’m from a chess family—my father is a [FIDE] master and my brother is an international master. A lot of girls love it when they’re little kids—eight or nine is our peak age for girls at the U.S. Chess Federation. Anywhere from six to 10, that’s where we really have a high number of the girls. And then around age 12 or 13, you see a massive drop-off.
Why is that?
The thing about chess, which the series does show well, is that it’s actually really social. In order to play at a high level, usually the friendships in that network are really important. So if you’re a girl and you don’t have other girls who are playing at your same age range and level and city, it can start to be less interesting. You might just gravitate toward another sport where you have 10 friends.
It’s easier for boys to stick with it because there are a lot more boys that play. So that’s why I’m so excited about the series: I think it will probably interest more girls, especially at that potential drop-off age.
Did you have any female role models in the chess world when you were young?
When I was getting really serious about chess, it was at the heyday of the Polgár sisters, and particularly Judit Polgár, who was the strongest female player in history. She had a super-aggressive style and I just loved to pore over her games, and I even copied some of her openings.
Beth’s style [in The Queen’s Gambit] is interesting because, on one hand, she plays openings that are a little bit more positional and strategic, but she is also very aggressive.
What do you mean when you say “aggressive”?
Aggressive doesn’t mean only good…it means that you are more proficient at the middle stage of the game. In chess, there’s basically two ways to win: one way is to checkmate your opponent’s king in the middle game, when most of the pieces are on the board. It means you arrange your pieces in this harmony to overpower your opponent’s game. Way number two is that you get to the end game, when most of the pieces get traded off the board, and you use one of your pawns to make another queen. You use that queen to checkmate. More aggressive players tend to do more of the earlier one and less of the other one. Judit Polgár also had flaming red hair, so that was another corollary with the series.
What are the notes that the chess players in The Queen’s Gambit are quickly jotting down while playing during these tournaments?
That’s to record the game so they know it later. It’s a habit, and a lot of people enjoy it because it allows you to see the game from a different point of view. You would think that, for a massive competition, it wouldn’t be necessary since everybody’s watching the moves and somebody else could write it. But it’s a chess tradition.
In the show, Beth Harmon has a traumatic backstory—she was orphaned and has addiction issues, and these traits add to the dramatic tension of the series. In the real world, do you find that certain personalities, or people from a certain background, are especially drawn to chess?
There’s tremendous diversity in the reasons that people come to chess. Obviously, the people who enjoy it are competitive, passionate, and have a very high capacity for focus. The pinnacle of chess enjoyment is just getting completely enraptured in the game and lost in thought.
Women and girls in chess tend to be very strong personalities who are also comfortable being under the spotlight.…There are so many more men than women that women really stand out, for better or worse.
Beth advances to top levels in spite of her addiction issues. Do you see a lot of addiction in real-life chess?
I don’t think there is more than in the normal population. Chess is actually very grueling—it’s a mind sport. So you really need to be super healthy for it. So in that respect, at the highest levels, I’d say you see less [addiction]. It can be a stressful life with a lot of travel, but if people are using substances during their chess career, it’d be more likely used to relieve stress or anxiety, not to actually improve their play.
That, to me, was the one thing about the series that I thought was really unrealistic—especially for her to be taking a downer. That doesn’t really compute because chess requires such acuity and focus. So the thought of actually seeing the chessboard better because you took tranquilizers—that definitely doesn’t ring true or realistic to me at all.
It’s a work of fiction, but I do worry a little bit about younger people who see that and think that pills might help them see crazy chess pieces on the ceiling and become a genius.
Have there been any chess prodigies with addiction issues that you are aware of?
Honestly, I’d never heard of it. I mean, I’ve heard of older chess players who travel a ton and end up soothing themselves with drinking after the games. There are also players who go to these amazing cities and go to nightclubs. But little kids? Usually chess prodigies are just incredibly disciplined and they’re barely splurging on ice cream because it could mess up their blood sugar levels. Seriously, to be that good at chess at such a young age usually [means that] everything’s very scientific and the kids are supported by some kind of system, whether it’s a coach or a parent who keeps a very watchful eye. Something like that is very, very unlikely to happen.
What about the parents of these child prodigies? Is there kind of a prototype you see—like stage parents with child actors?
I think that the parents of the successful chess players are usually incredibly supportive and usually sacrifice a lot to allow their kids to fulfill their dream. It requires a lot of work from the parent. If the parents aren’t super supportive, a lot of times the school could take over that role. To do it all on your own is hard. There are some people who do it, like Beth. That’s not unheard of because there are a lot of resources online and once you reach a certain level, you might impress somebody and be able to get free coaching or subsidized support. But by far the more common scenario is that the family or the school structure is incredibly supportive.
The series starts in the ’60s. How has chess popularity changed since then?
For the scholastic class, it’s way more prevalent now than it used to be. People do say that during Bobby Fischer’s time, chess was so popular that it was the lead story on a lot of news networks. That is not the case anymore, but I think that there are different ways to weigh popularity because right now there’s the online chess boom. I often do commentary for the St. Louis Chess Club, which is the premier chess club in the country. We have so many viewers and it’s grown every year since they were founded 10 years ago.
In The Queen’s Gambit, we see some more flamboyant, eccentric characters in the chess world like Benny, the player portrayed by Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Do you see a lot of rock star chess players when you get to that high level?
Absolutely. I loved Benny. I couldn’t figure out who he was modeled after—maybe he was a composite. But there are definitely some very eccentric, but also charming characters. If you think about chess, the lifestyle is a lot like an artistic lifestyle where you travel around, you meet new people, you immerse yourself in this beautiful game. A lot of the people who like it are going to be free-spirited and eccentric.
Is there a Keith Richards of the chess world?
There’s a lot of rock star chess players right now with the streaming boom. The top chess players are getting major e-sports contracts, and Magnus Carlsen, who’s the current world champion, has had a modeling contract. The top of the chess world is definitely filled with mega stars.
What has your experience been like as one of the few women in this field, especially as you advanced to higher levels?
It’s been very mixed. Overall, I’ve had a great experience meeting people and traveling the world through chess. There’s that combination of getting lots of positive attention and opportunities because you’re one of the few females in the game, whereas there’s also the negativity of trolls and scrutiny and overall questioning of whether girls and women belong.
I think there are two parts to the world. [One] part is very excited to see girls and women play. And then there’s also some undercurrents of resentment. Especially as chess moves online, there are a lot of nasty comments written about girls and women. That’s why strong people, who love positive attention and are able to shut out negative attention, do really well in chess right now.
As the women’s program director at U.S. Chess, how are you raising awareness of the sport?
I’ve actually been working on multiple projects to use [The Queen’s Gambit] as a way to attract more girls and women. A lot of adult women love the series because it’s made for an adult crowd. So we started a book club called the Madwoman’s Book Club, which will be hosted by me and [chess expert] Adia Onyango. We’ll read books that tangentially relate to chess or intellectual themes of exploration. Our first book is going to be The Queen’s Gambit.
We also have a girls’ club, and Garry Kasparov is coming to teach it this week. We have twice-a-week meetings. Usually we bring in top female chess players and speakers, but we also sometimes have great male legends of the game. Obviously, having Garry is a great privilege—he’s going to talk about his work on the series.
Have you already seen an increase in chess interest from women because of The Queen’s Gambit?
I’m definitely getting a lot of requests for information. People are just super stoked about it. Because most over-the-board tournaments are on a pause [because of coronavirus-related restrictions], I actually think that the true magic will be when we can play live over the chess boards again. The series really shows the beauty of playing with those gorgeous pieces and connecting with somebody over that chess board and that conversation. Online chess is amazing, and that’s what we’re all doing right now. But we might actually see the true effects of this boom whenever we can congregate in large groups again.
VANITY FEAR
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