The Queen's Gambit (2020)

runtime: 1h | rating: 8.6/10

Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.

Nine year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she's competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Based on the book by Walter Tevis.

After her mother dies in a car accident nine-year-old Beth Harmon is sent to an orphanage. A shy, withdrawn girl she finds a purpose when the school janitor teaches her to play chess. She demonstrates a prodigious talent for the game and is soon competing at a very high level. However, she has also developed a drug addiction as this seems to help her play. She seems set on a path for fame...and self-destruction.

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grantss