The Netflix show about a chess prodigy has reignited interest in the game and fueled demand for sets, accessories, and timers
Image: Phil Bray/Netflix © 2020
Poela Keta started binge-watching “The Queen’s Gambit” as a break from studying for her final exams at Rhodes University.
“I think I’ve always respected chess,” Keta, 21, who lives in South Africa, said on Saturday. “I just thought I wasn’t smart enough nor patient enough for it.”
That is, until she saw Beth Harmon, the main character in the Netflix show, masterfully school her opponents as a woman in the male-dominated world of chess.
“Beth’s can-do attitude, the way the board presented itself to her on the ceiling in a drug-induced haze, her mastery, her ego, made me add my own set to my shopping cart and get playing,” Keta said.
When the chess set she ordered arrived, her 11-year-old sister, who is part of the chess club at her school, helped her position the pieces. Keta said she planned to dive deeper into the game “the minute I’m done with exams.”
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