I’m about a year late to the party, but I just finished watching The Queen’s Gambit and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I can now understand the reason for chess’ resurgence over the past year, and it also explains why multiple friends invited me to matches via mobile apps.
My timing to watch The Queen’s Gambit was also serendipitous, the World Chess Championship is currently happening. It’s a 14 game showdown between the world’s highest ranked chess player for the last 11 years—and widely considered to be the GOAT—Magnus Carlsen, and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Although they’re streamed live on YouTube, the games aren’t exactly easy watching: each game takes about 3-4 hours. So I usually skip to the end game.
The first 5 games all ended in a stalemate. But yesterday, in a 7 hour epic, Carlsen managed to push ahead. I came across this great video that shows the exciting last 15 minutes of the game.
I then went down a YouTube rabbit hole watching Carlsen beat 3 people blindfolded.
They say after 4 moves, there are over 3 billion different combinations available to players. But despite all the possibility, chess is a game where the stage is set, the pieces are known, and despite a slim advantage being given to the white pieces, it’s an insanely great game.