The Queen's Gambit (novel)

The novel's epigraph is "The Long-Legged Fly" by W. B. Yeats. This poem highlights one of the novel's main concerns: the inner workings of genius in a woman. Tevis discussed this concern in a 1983 interview,[1][2] the year before his death.

In a New York Times interview published at the time of his book's release in 1983, Tevis stated the story is "a tribute to brainy women."[3] In a 2020 interview with its director Scott Frank at the time of the television miniseries' release, chess consultant Bruce Pandolfini (b. 1947) revealed[4] that Walter Tevis never had any intention to reference Bobby Fischer (1943–2008), the young American chess prodigy many commentators speculated was the obvious inspiration for his protagonist,[5][6][7][8][9] who had won the 1972 World Chess Championship a decade earlier.

Pandolfini, a US chess master, consulted on the chess positions prior to the book's publication, and was the one who suggested the book's final title "The Queen's Gambit", after the chess opening called "Queen's Gambit".[4][10] Thirty-eight years later he also returned to consult on the 2020 Netflix adaptation.[4]

The Queen's Gambit traces chess prodigy Beth Harmon's life from her childhood in an orphanage through her struggles with tranquilizer and alcohol addiction to her triumphant rise through the Grandmaster ranks.

The novel is difficult to classify, occupying a space between thriller, sports/game novel, and bildungsroman.

The Queen's Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.

— Michael Ondaatje (cover of Vintage paperback edition, 2003)

It is also highly praised for the technical accuracy of its depictions of chess:

New Yorker's reviewer was especially enthused with the novelist's recreation of the obsessive world of chess, noting that Tevis "does succeed in conveying the cerebral suspense with which would-be World Champions live." Harold C. Schonberg, writing in the New York Times Book Review, confirmed that Tevis "reveals a great deal about the world of American Chess, with a final glance at how the Russians operate, and it is an exceptionally accurate picture that he draws." Schonberg added: "Beth Harmon may not be prepossessing, but she has the dedication of a Biblical saint, a freak memory and an ability to synthesize and create and blow her little world apart with a kind of startling originality that nobody else can match. That is what chess on its highest level is all about." (From Contemporary Authors Online, 2007, Gale Reference)

Tevis based the chess scenes on his own experience as a "class C" player and on his long study of the game. He elaborates on this in the Author's Note for the novel:

The superb chess of Grandmasters Robert Fischer, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov has been a source of delight to players like myself for years. Since The Queen's Gambit is a work of fiction, however, it seemed prudent to omit them from the cast of characters, if only to prevent contradiction of the record. I would like to express my thanks to Joe Ancrile, Fairfield Hoban and Stuart Morden, all excellent players, who helped me with books, magazines, and tournament rules. And I was fortunate to have the warm-hearted and diligent help of National Master Bruce Pandolfini in proofreading the text and in helping me rid it of errors concerning the game he plays so enviably well.

Some criticisms from Edward Winter:

The author ... tends to show insufficient ingenuity in his artificially stylized accounts of chess tournaments (e.g. lack of draws and, in the interests of suspense, having Beth meet all her strongest opponents in the final round).[11]

In March 2019, Netflix ordered a limited seven-episode series based on the novel, also titled The Queen's Gambit. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the lead role of the series, while Scott Frank serves as writer, director, and executive producer.[12] It was released on October 23, 2020, to widespread attention and critical acclaim.[13][14]

Prior to the 2020 Netflix miniseries, there were several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the book. In 1983, The New York Times journalist Jesse Kornbluth acquired the screenplay rights but the project was called off when Tevis died in 1984.[15] In 1992, Scottish screenwriter Allan Scott purchased the rights from Tevis' widow,[16] and wrote a script for an art house film. At different points directors Michael Apted and Bernardo Bertolucci were attached, but financing fell through.[17] In 2007, Scott was working with Heath Ledger on what would have been Ledger's directorial debut, where Ledger wanted actress Ellen Page to star as Beth Harmon. Ledger died in January 2008.[18]

Scott co-created and co-executive produced the 2020 Netflix series.[19]

• 1983, US, Random House
• 2003, US, Vintage