I just finished as well, in the end I enjoyed it more than anticipated after the first couple of episodes. Its certainly a stylish show, lots of good clothes!
I was super duper offended that they had the audacity to portray a girl as the best chess player in the world. Everyone knows all the best chess players are men, so unrealistic.
Finished Queen’s Gambit today. Generally, I enjoyed the second half more than the first and I was about to up my review to an A but I did not enjoy the finale that much. It really went into Rocky IV/USA#1 territory with the Soviet crowds cheering for her, she quits booze/drugs like it’s nothing, then all her past boyfriends team up to give her last minute analysis and celebrate her win like Apollo 13 just landed. There was no gesture or signal from Borgov so wtf was the point of bringing that up State Department/CIA chaperone? And she just ends up in a random park playing old dude patzers like the Cincinnati Kid etc. so A-, enjoyed it a lot for the most part.
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I was totally expecting Queens Gambit to be a show where I would fast forward a lot because it would be to much drama after I saw the trailer but nevermind absolutely great watch.
if anyone needs something to watch: 100 Best Netflix Series To Watch Right Now (October 2023) | Rotten Tomatoes
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One thing I had been thinking about with Queen’s Gambit is how it didn’t feel like a lot of prestige shows where it’s been honed down for maximum screenplay and dramatic efficiency.
Like is it dramatically important that she gets to keep the house? Not really. Her scumbag adoptive dad just kind is there, isn’t there, then shows up, then disappears. It’s all kind of interacts with the story but it’s not like he appears at a key dramatic time or not. Same thing with her Kentucky state boyfriend. He kind of shows up, doesn’t really teach her a whole lot, realizes that they’re done and then leaves. All of that screenplay “inefficiency” make it feel like a real person’s life where things kind of happen and not a prestige drama where everything means something
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Re: Queen’s Gambit, I though at the highest level tournaments, players would play multiple games against each other. Is that only for world championships or is that something the show took dramatic license with?
Going by memory, sometimes, but rarely, the World Champion is determined by a tournament. The last one was in 2005 which Topalov won and there you played your opponents twice, once as white and once as black, which is the standard tournament format for Grandmasters. But usually to become World Champion you play a match of 12+ games (the number of games played has been shrinking over time) against the World Champion. To become a contender though, usually you have to win the Candidates tournament. In recent Candidates tournaments, you also play your opponent twice. However, when Bobby Fischer slaughtered all the top Russian GMs, I believe there were 6 game matches. So I’m guessing the last tournament in the show is an homage to that and some other tournament where Fischer beat everybody badly. Going to double check this and see if I’m right.
eta: mostly right, you can read about the details here:
Just started Queen’s Gambit. As someone who doesn’t play chess I sure do like chess movies and chess series.
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There have been so many!
To be fair I am only counting Searching for Bobby Fischer but I may be missing one. 
Oh yeah Fresh. But doing a search there are like twelve chess movies at least.
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That’s the only other one I can think of too LOL. Damn good.
Never heard of Fresh. That premise 
Fresh (Sean Nelson) is a 12-year-old drug dealer who finds himself trapped in a web of poverty, corruption and racial tension in Brooklyn, New York. When his drug-addict sister Nichole (N’Bushe Wright) starts sleeping with local drug lord Esteban (Giancarlo Esposito), Fresh calls upon the skills he learned playing chess with his alcoholic father and speed-chess champion Sam (Samuel L. Jackson) and devises a complex strategy that will free both himself and his sister.
I still have a bit of this month’s Showtime left. This one is going on the list 
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Just finished a 2 day binge of Queen’s Gambit. Liked it quite a bit, though not without a few flaws. B+/A- that ultimately gets an A- because of the clothes and style and the lead actress.
Got a lil choked up at the scene with the picture of her first coach.
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Haha I had the same reaction to that scene. Going into the end of the show I was mostly thinking “oh, this is pretty fun and I’ve enjoyed it but its not super engaging or anything” and then I was like oof I guess I’ll just have a cry now.
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I decided to watch an episode of The Queen’s Gambit last night based on what I heard here. Therefore I am blaming all of you for the fact I was up to 1am watching multiple episodes and I had to actually force myself to go to bed and stop watching.
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Oh Rexxy!!! Such a delight when we enjoy something other than politics so much that we can’t shut it off. For a while, I wondered if any of us would be capable of having a satisfying binge of anything but Rupar clips :P
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I like how in queens gambit there are a few moments where I was 100% sure she was about to get molested and it seems like every show is all about showing me the absolute worst shit happen to my favorite characters, but then she got lucky, she didn’t get molested, that was nice. that was lucky.
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First episode of Queen’s Gambit
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I love chess but don’t get the critical acclaim for Queen’s Gambit.
I find the storyline cliched (outsider with addiction problems takes on and beats the world’s best) and lacks credibility, with some annoyingly implausible chess situations eg winning a speed chess simul against 3 grandmasters not only once but three times lol.
I was hoping for more from the writer of the interestingly offbeat The Man Who Fell To Earth.
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You’ve got further than me so far but it doesn’t take much to see where it’s going.
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That’s not all I wrote but you go for it.