The Queen’s Gambit – The Board Game of Life is a mini-series on Netflix, consisting of 7 episodes, all of which are approximately 7 hours long. The story focuses on the main character “Beth Harmon”, played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
When it first came out, the admin watched the trailer of this series briefly and thought it would be like a typical drama from the 1960s. However, I also wondered what chess had to do with this series.
After The Queen’s Gambit was aired on TV around the end of October 2020, it created many new phenomena, such as in the first month after the series was released, within the first month, it was able to attract viewers up to 62 million families. Chess Set sales also made sales of up to 250% on eBay. In addition, there were a lot of people searching for the word “How to play chess” on Google at an all-time high. And the number of new players signing up to be members of chess.com increased by more than 5 times.
“We can’t miss it. We can’t miss the trend.” Plus, the curiosity to know if this is really as good as they say. This made the admin have to find time to watch the mini-series The Queen’s Gambit seriously.
“At first, I planned to watch one episode a day during my free time after work, but I couldn’t stop.” Because the story was so intriguing, I wanted to continue watching the next episode immediately. That’s why I finished watching this show in just 3 days.
Synopsis of the series The Queen’s Gambit – The Board Game of Life
The story is told through a game of chess, with the main character being Beth Harmon, a female chess genius. The beginning of the story is Beth Harmon. As a child, she grew up in a broken family. Later, she lost her mother in a car accident, leaving her with no one and having to be sent to an orphanage at the age of 9.
Living here, Beth had trouble fitting in with her friends. While she was there, she had to take a certain medication (a sedative) every day, which caused her to become addicted to the drug until she grew up. One day, she learned about chess for the first time from the janitor named “Mr. Seibel” in the basement of the orphanage. “Mr. Seibel” was her first teacher and a true supporter who pushed Beth into the cycle of being a chess athlete.
And then there was a family who was interested in adopting Beth, but Beth did not stop pursuing her dream. From a child who had no goals, she became a child who discovered her own talent in chess. This type of sport was considered a very difficult and brutal path at that time because it was mostly played by men.
With Beth’s talent in chess and the fact that chess competitions can make a lot of money, her new mother, after knowing that this type of sport can make money, turned to fully support Beth and became her personal manager. But then again, Beth had to lose her new mother due to chronic alcoholism (her mother was a heavy drinker). This caused her to have to live the rest of her life alone. However, she did not live alone because she still had a close childhood friend who she met at the orphanage and there were also many male friends who wished her well, even though before that they were competitors in chess games.
Many episodes of this series show Beth’s determination and strength in wanting to prove herself and defeat her competitors. Beth gradually builds her reputation and develops her skills by competing in various arenas around the country until she becomes the American champion instead, which allows Beth to compete in THE CHESS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP against the world’s number one, Varsili Borgov from Russia.
On the other hand, Beth also had to face many disappointments, whether it was her family that had lost two mothers, overcoming her addiction to tranquilizers, or facing disappointment in losing many important competitions. But Beth was able to get through all of these stories.
What made Beth, a seemingly hopeless child, become a chess player who excelled above men? And what made Beth overcome the obstacles that came her way?
How will this story end? Will Beth be able to pass this important level? You’ll have to watch and find out.
“Many times when we watch a movie, we can also learn something useful from that movie.”
What you get from The Queen’s Gambit or The Board Game of Life is not just a movie or a mini-series that is worth watching or interesting. But this story also includes many interesting ideas and lessons, especially in matters that we can apply to our lives and work.
Therefore, in this article, the admin will present what the admin has learned from watching the mini-series The Queen’s Gambit or The Board Game of Life, which can be summarized into 7 points.
“Get out of your comfort zone and Find your passions and purpose”
“Sometimes we have to dare to open our eyes and heart, to try different things, to find what’s right or what’s truly right for us.” If Beth’s life had followed the same old lifestyle of other orphans, who each day lived within the same set rules and waited for a good family to adopt them, there would definitely be no Beth Harmon, the female chess genius.
Beth’s curiosity, challenge, and desire to try new things were the starting points that allowed her to overcome many limitations, such as the belief that chess was for men only or that children could not compete in this sport.
“You can chase your dreams at any age. You’re never too old.” Age and gender are not conditions for us to pursue our own dreams. But many people use these things to crush their dreams. It’s the same with many of us who may be afraid or not confident to try or do different things, forcing us to choose to follow the path that other people or society have set for us.
When having to do work that is not theirs, work that does not fully utilize their abilities or talents, it makes many people unhappy at work, easily get bored, and if left for too long, it may eventually cause them to lose their confidence.
“Don’t let people’s opinions get to you”
“Sometimes we have to ignore, stop caring about other people’s looks or criticisms.” We can never make other people understand us or what we are doing. Beth is the same. During high school, because her dressing style was different and looked old-fashioned in the eyes of many people, she was looked down on and belittled by people around her. Because she was an adopted child, her clothes were old and old-fashioned. Even though her new mother later bought her discounted clothes (because her new family was not rich), she was still looked down on by her friends at school.
But that didn’t shake her at all. It made her have to find a way to make her life better by proving herself on the path she had chosen by becoming a chess player. Because she found that this career can make money. And in fact, there are no rules or regulations that limit age or gender in competing. After she competed continuously, she started to earn money and become famous. When Beth had money, she used the prize money to buy beautiful, expensive clothes to wear. This made people who used to look down on her want to associate with her. And she immediately became a celebrity who was popular.
Being criticized is something that everyone has to face. However, it depends on how each person handles and views this issue. If we are too focused on what other people think and think too much about those criticisms, I can assure you that what we want to do and what we want to be will never happen.
Let’s say that our lives should be determined by ourselves, not by the criticisms of others. So don’t set the conditions of our own happiness through the eyes of others.
“Take your life into your own hands”
“Because life always has ups and downs, we all have to face disappointments, more or less. It’s normal.” Beth’s life is the same. Her life is like a roller coaster. From the lowest point, when she reaches the peak, she has to face problems and losses, causing her life to fall again. For example, from being an orphan and being adopted by a new family, but not long after, she has to lose her new mother again. Or competing in the championship, she loses because of her overconfidence (including ego), which also makes her face disappointment.
“Because life is a learning experience, we can learn a lot on our worst days.” Beth is the same. She has learned expensive lessons from every loss and disappointment, and has been able to bring herself back to success again.
This story also shows that mistakes or disappointments are also life lessons. If we accept and understand, we will see a way to fix and develop ourselves to always move forward to a better future. But if we use mistakes or disappointments to label ourselves as “good for nothing” or blame others for the cause of this, that means we have already accepted and given up on fate.
“Success starts from learning and practicing”
“Success begins with learning and action.” Beth clearly demonstrates this through her story, whether it’s her tenacity and determination to learn from “Mr. Seibel.”
Beth is also someone who loves to research her interests, which is chess, by herself, through reading many books, and is not afraid to practice with real games with older, more experienced players.
Beth also showed us that “talent alone is not enough to succeed.” It takes more than that. Beth learns from every game she plays, from every competitor she plays against. After every game, she goes back and looks at her mistakes, and thinks about how she would have played against the competitor if she were her competitor.
Talented people, successful people, never rely solely on their talent. They have to work hard, continuously learn, improve and develop themselves in order to be at the forefront of their career path. This is another story that shows that talent doesn’t come easy.
“Set goals to grow”
“Goals are set so we can grow.” As Beth continued to rack up wins, she set bigger goals. From winning tournaments in small towns, she expanded to cities, states, and entered national and world tournaments. With each goal, Beth had to use different strategies to overcome each player.
“Good goals must always make us grow and become better.” Because harder goals will make us find a way, try, invest and put in effort to reach that goal. But if we don’t have a goal or set a goal that is too easy, we might not learn anything or not become better than before. Therefore, if we want to have a better life, the quality and level of difficulty of the goal are important.
“Team up with your opponents”
“Rivalers in a game don’t have to be real-life rivals.” This is also shown in many episodes. Many of Beth’s competitors became her friends, mentors, and people who helped and gave her advice, which enabled her to defeat her biggest rival, the world’s number one, Varsili Borgov from Russia.
At first, Beth didn’t like it, but when she realized that learning and training on her own might not be able to help her overcome obstacles or beat people who are much better than her, she changed her mind and opened her mind to learn from her competitors and respect everyone who is her competition. As a result, she became someone who people wanted to help and everyone wanted her to succeed.
Rivals are just competition in the game. We can be good friends, we can always learn from each other. Using prejudice as a barrier may cause us to miss the opportunity to meet a good friend or a good person. Let’s say that in the game, we are rivals, and at the end of the game, we are friends. That would be better.
“Success doesn’t solve all your problems.”
Because “success cannot solve all our problems.” Even though Beth has achieved where she wants to be, her problems still remain, whether it’s her physical and mental health, due to her long-term addiction to sedatives, or the problem of having to live a solitary life.
“High Risk, High Return” The result of high expectations and high goals always comes with risks or trade-offs.
Because every success always has hidden losses. Because the success that occurs or is obtained, we ourselves must be willing to exchange something or many things, whether it is in terms of physical and mental health (like Beth’s example), family, finances, or other matters. Now it depends on each person whether we are ready to accept the risks and are ready to exchange something for the goals and for success.
Conclusion
The story of Beth Harmon from The Queen’s Gambit – The Board Game of Life teaches us many lessons. But the admin has selected 7 points that are considered useful, especially for working people or people who are facing problems in this post-COVID era.
“No one can succeed in everything.” So we have to choose, choose what is important and what we want to do the most. And don’t forget that every success we choose, that path always has something we have to exchange, have to give up, whether it’s time, health, money or other things.
Therefore, it is up to us to plan, strategize, and use what methods to manage risks to reduce losses and increase the chances of achieving goals.
Hopefully, Beth’s story and the many lessons she learned from The Queen’s Gambit – The Board Game of Life can serve as an example and guide for us, especially in our lives at this point in time.
Finally, the admin would like to wish everyone success on the path you have chosen.
Source:
The Queen’s Gambit : https://www.netflix.com/th-en/title/80234304
Thanks to Netflix for the article illustrations.
