‘Deliberately lied’: Chess champion sues Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit

One of Netflix’s most popular and beloved dramas has been embroiled in a lawsuit by a champion who accused the streamer of “deliberately” lying.

Wenlei Ma

@wenleima

2 min read

September 17, 2021 - 11:44AM

Popular Netflix drama The Queen’s Gambit is being hit with a lawsuit by a chess champion.

Georgian chess master Nona Gaprindashvili, 80, filed a $US5 million lawsuit against the streaming behemoth for a line of dialogue in the series finale which downplayed her accomplishments, according to Deadline.

In the episode, an onscreen commentator said of fictional character Beth Harmon, “The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex, and even that’s not so unique in Russia.

“There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”

Gaprindashvili is taking umbrage with The Queen’s Gambit’s claim. She had faced many men by 1968, the year in which the episode is set.

As outlined in the lawsuit: “The allegation that Gaprindashvili ‘has never faced men’ is manifestly false, as well as being grossly sexist and belittling. By 1968, the year in which this episode is set, she had competed against at least 59 male chess players (28 of them simultaneously in one game) including at least 10 Grandmasters of that time.

“Netflix brazenly and deliberately lied about Gaprindashvili’s achievements for the cheap and cynical purpose of ‘heightening the drama’ by making it appear that its fictional hero had managed to do what no other woman, including Gaprindashvili, had done.

“Thus, 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.”

Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit. Picture: Netflix

Gaprindashvili was awarded the title of Grandmaster by the World Chess Federation in 1978. She held the title of the women’s world chess champion from 1962 to 1978.

A Netflix spokesperson in the US told Deadline, “Netflix 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’s Gambit, based on a novel by Walter Tevis, told the fictional story of Beth Harmon, an orphaned prodigy who would go on to triumph as a chess champion, overcoming her hard childhood and an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The series was lauded for its accomplished period production and a riveting performance from Anya Taylor-Joy. It was among Netflix’s most popular dramas of 2020, with the streaming service claiming it was seen by 62 million households within the first weeks of its release.

The series, developed for the screen by Scott Frank and Allan Scott, will be competing in the Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, where it is up for several categories including Limited Series and Lead Actress in a Limited Series, where it is in a dead heat against Mare of Easttown.

The Queen’s Gambit has already won nine awards at the Creative Arts Emmys, including for cinematography, production design and casting.

Gaprindashvili’s suit isn’t the first Netflix has faced. The streamer was sued in 2018 by the Satanic Temple which alleged copyright infringement over a statue that was featured in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

That case was settled out of court.