The Queen's Gambit - Hit Chess Miniseries

[Shell B]

It was an excellent show, especially because little girls actually, literally, definitely can be tough.

[The Grand Nudger]

Well...they're humans, so......ballers, down to a (wo)man.

[HappySkeptic]

It's a game so is in this forum. Very fucking excellent IMO, although utterly ridiculous fantasy like Marvel in many ways. Any other users play? Come on then?! Where are you fuckers?! Seriously though, really worthwhile and entertaining series, despite the "little girl's can be as hard as Naval Seals" subtext - I'm only onto episode three.

I enjoyed it, and I do play chess.  The first episode is slow, but it gets better.

The story isn't reasonable for a normal person, but remember Beth Harmon is supposed to be like a female Bobby Fischer (before he went more crazy).  Still, sometimes when a character tries to teach Beth about an aspect of chess, they are really teaching us about chess, so that we can follow the story.  Beth would've obviously known much of it earlier.

I think the actress really makes this show good, plus decent writing.

[The Grand Nudger]

In my experience.....with teaching people how to play chess - telling the apocryphal story of how an asiatic commander invented the game to model a potential conflict over a bridge (represented by the four middle squares) is the singlemost effective tool for teaching people how to destroy noobs at the game. There is no essential board, there are no essential pieces - there is only the need to control the midde by any means. It can be piece placement or straight up shit-talking and dread. No matter. If you have the center, you'll win - even if the other player is technically better than you are.

Hence..the best opening move for the vast majority of opponents..is the queens gambit.

The gcd inevitably opens you up to an arrow push, wherein all back row pieces are in place to strike from the middle to any place on the board from trade cover. Someone who understands this can fuck you, but over a long enough sample of games, your winrate will trend to positive.

(The Wife refers to this chess strategy as a grinding bitch game - and I love it. The way to win.... at least as I see it, is to make the other player regret having ever agreed to play you by removing any enjoyment of the game that they might otherwise experience.)

[Duty]

I loved the bit where she effectively told the Christians to take their sponsorship money and locate it where the sun don't shine. Credit.

[GrandizerII]

It was ok. Matches could've been more exciting and dramatic, but I guess I'm just so used to the sort of suspense-building that Japanese mangas/animes are known for, that it disappointed me that I couldn't see such in this mini-series.

[Rhizomorph13]

I just saw the dumbest thing in a facebook ad. It was a wobbly chess board. All the squares were pockets and the pieces have rounded, weighted, bottoms so they rock on the spot they are placed. If this promotion interested you:

https://www.amazon.com/Umbra-377601-656-...7028&psc=1

[Ranjr]

And I thought '80s Battle Chess was pointless.

[Rhizomorph13]

And I thought '80s Battle Chess was pointless.

Ah man, you're post bums me out! I loved Battle Chess! I even had the Chinese chess Battle Chess. It made me want to get a real set and learn to play but I couldn't find a cool enough set.

The first time I saw the rook transform into something resembling The Thing from The Fantastic Four was so cool!

[Ranjr]

Battle Chess was certainly fun for the first few games.  It got my nephew interested.  He loved the pawn on pawn action.  Beyond that, it took away from the game.  If you had a slow box with cheap graphics, don't bother.