It’s like Stephen King says in his excellent book On Writing.
You can teach someone awful how to be competent.
You can teach someone competent how to be good.
You can teach someone good how to be very good.
But the distance between very good and great is unfathomable.
Yeah I wasnt sure exactly what was being portrayed there. I said it was obviously a trans woman, my wife thought cis woman. I’m curious whether it was a trans woman playing a cis woman part.
Question about a couple of scenes where players offer a draw…
Is there any universe where the correct play is to take the draw? Arent they only offering because they are behind? It’s not a move you would make as a bluff to lull someone into misplaced confidence is it?
I don’t believe the character is trans, just the actress Rebecca Root.
Fuck it. The character is trans too as far as I’m concerned 
Where You’ve Seen The Queen’s Gambit Cast Before
Rebecca Root appears in a few episodes of The Queen’s Gambit as Miss Lonsdale, one of the teachers at the orphanage who is seen cutting Beth’s hair in the first episode is later seen leading the girls in songs. Root, one of the few openly transgender actresses on mainstream, is probably best known for her role as Judy on the BBC sitcom Boy Meets Girl and her brief turn as Lili’s nurse in the 2015 drama The Danish Girl .
You mean like when Arnold would cuddle his biggest rival the night before a bodybuilding competition?
Yeah it’s the foundation of the Dunning-Kruger effect, I think I’ve said this before but if I were to explain my skill at chess on a resume or something, I’d say “expert” because I’m 95th percentile at chess com blitz, and being 95th percentile at something justifies calling yourself an expert at it. But the difference between me and a real expert, a top grandmaster, is greater than the difference between me and a rank beginner. I say “greater than” because while the chance of a complete beginner beating me is the same as the chance of me beating a grandmaster (i.e. 0%), at least it’s possible for the novice to study and eventually be good enough to beat me. It’s not within my capability to beat a top master. Makes you think about how many other things are like that.
Players accept draws all the time. Most common is that there’s just no play left in the position - like it’s a lifeless endgame with no way for either side to get an advantage. Masters agree to draws in these positions for the same reason I resign if I blunder my queen, i.e. that the outcome is not in doubt. Other times draws are accepted because of situational factors - for example in the last world championship, Carlsen agreed to a draw against Caruana in a position where Carlsen was obviously better, because it was the last classical (long) time format game. The tournament was headed to blitz games after that and Carlsen is vastly better than Caruana at blitz, so instead of pushing his slim advantage in the classical game he opted to go to blitz. In other situations it’s obvious that one player has an advantage, but they might accept the draw because their opponent is much more skilled and they doubt their advantage in the position is enough to compensate for their opponent’s advantage in future play.
The way it’s portrayed in the series - with a player offering a draw and then the other player winning like three moves later - rarely happens, it would mean the player offering the draw overlooked something.
Yeah, it was discussed on the chess thread and overwhelming consensus was that he has absolutely no chance.
Desteoyed 9 year old Beth with only 1 blunder. I’m a natural
Thanks!
Thinking about it after I wrote that, it’s the same as saying “why do prop bets ever happen, if someone offers one, doesn’t that mean they have the advantage?”.
If I offer a draw, it’s a prop bet that my EV in the position is less than or equal to zero. If my opponent accepts, they either disagree with me, agree that it’s exactly zero, or simply aren’t prepared to gamble because the stakes are too high.
Beth is actually two years older than everyone thinks after she leaves the orphanage, right? There’s that scene where her adoptive parents are interviewing her and they ask how old she is. She says, “I’m fif–” and then the orphanage woman looks at her sternly and Beth says, “Thirteen.”
Correct
At least in the final episode of Queen’s Gambit, I took it to mean he was hoping SHE hadn’t noticed something. But she looked at the board and saw what he saw. Three moves to victory.
That’s not REALISTIC! :p
But seriously, offering a draw when it’s obvious you’ve lost is a huge dick move akin to throwing your cards at the dealer.
As long as it’s not obvious to your opponent, it’s just good strategy
Golf also falls in this category. A scratch golfer is one who can shoot even par with regularity, something that maybe 2% of all golfers can do, if even. Yet the gap between scratch golfers and elite tour pros is just unfathomable.
I’m sure this principle applies in every walk of life, and realizing that I’m never going to be in that elite category at anything in life no matter how hard I try is a depressing thought.
In a five game tournament, I am likely accepting a draw on game 4 even if I thought i was a percent or two ahead if I respected opponents ability just to save mental energy for game 5. Game 5 lets go.
And as I posted earlier someone beating GM level players in a blitz simul is totally unrealistic. That was a stupid scene.
Counterpoint: who gives a shit.