Netflix Must-See ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Is the Involving Chess Thriller You Didn’t Know You Needed – Concrete Playground

In much of The Queen’s Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she pulls up a chair in the basement of the orphanage she calls home and demands that janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, The New Mutants), she plays whenever she’s able, earning a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you’re a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part Netflix miniseries…