The Metaphor of The Queen’s Gambit
The Queen’s Gambit is more of a mix between Cinderella and Rocky than about chess. Chess is a metaphor.
This story of self-improvement is one of Netflix’s most successful miniseries and caused a 273% increase in demand for chess boards, not to mention the chess games on mobile phones. However, the story has more to do with the competitiveness of the chess world than about the game itself.
One of its cinematic feats is to make chess look interesting to an audience that, for the most part, doesn’t know the difference between a Bishop and a Pawn. Despite this, chess is not just a backdrop for the narrative, it has an important role as a metaphor. But to deal with this, we first need to learn the chess movement that gave name to the miniseries.
The Chess Opening
The Queen’s Gambit refers to a legendary chess opening documented for the first time in 1490. Its objective, as is common in most openings in this game, is to dominate the center of the board. To achieve this advantage, a pawn must be sacrificed at the start of the game. Hence the term gambit, from the…
