The woman Grandmaster insulted by The Queen’s Gambit
She is the first woman chess Grandmaster. She played against 28 men at the same time proving that women can play chess. On pictures from Dorset, UK, January 1995, she walks opposite a long line of male chess players facing them all at the same time. So, when successful Netflix series The Queen´s Gambit about her said “she never faced men” it was too much for Georgian grand master, Nona Gaprindashvili. She sued Netflix.
According to the lawsuit in California, she first asked Netflix for an excuse and the removal of the erroneous statement about her not playing men. As the company did not provide that, they are now taken to court asked to pay USD 5 million in damages and remove of the phrase.
The Queen´s Gambit, nominated in 18 categories for the Emmy Awards, is based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevis about a woman chess player making a global career. It could have been inspired by Gaprindashvili but that cannot be proved as the author of the novel died long before it became a streaming success.
“NEVER FACED MEN”
In the show, a chess commentator says about the fictional chess player Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy: “The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
And the camera shows a character in the audience who resembles Gaprindashvili who played at least 59 men and 28 of them at the same time.
DEFEATED MEN
The law suit says “in a story that was supposed to inspire women by showing a young woman competing with men at the highest levels of world chess, Netflix humiliated the one real woman trail blazer who had actually faced and defeated men on the world stage in the same era.”
In a comment to the New York Times Netflix said it “has only the utmost respect for Ms. Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career, but we believe this claim has no merit and will vigorously defend the case.”
THE QUEEN
The success of the series led to Chess.com reporting a fivefold of new players, eBay said inquiries for “chess set” were up 250 % and Google search for “how to play chess” hit an all-time high in nine years.
The Queen’ s Gambit is one of the oldest chess opening that starts with the moves: 1. d4 d5: 2. c4.
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