The Queen’s Gambit

The Kentucky State Championship tournament’s players are mostly young white men. At the welcoming desk, two young men ask if Beth has a clock and a rating. She says that she has neither, and they tell her that they’ll put her in the Beginners. She asks if there’s a rule that she can’t play in the regular section. The men hesitate, and she insists that they put her in with the regular players—she’s not a beginner. They warn her that the others will eat her alive, but she ignores them.  

Beth’s first match is against another unranked player—she is seated at the last board on the farthest table. Another woman sits opposite her—all four women are playing against each other in the opening round. Beth’s opponent, Annette Packer, explains how the chess clock works—they each have 90 minutes and must record their moves after making them. Annette also explains that if Beth touches a piece, she has to move it.

Annette begins nervously, and Beth quickly starts with the Sicilian Defense. She begins attacking on the eighth move, and by the seventeenth Beth has Annette’s queen, and Annette resigns. Beth only used seven minutes to Annette’s thirty. Beth records the win on her score sheet and returns it to the basket at the front desk; there, she sees a young handsome man who has also just finished. He nods at her, acknowledging her as another fast player.

Beth walks around, observing the different games. She then goes into another room with a sign that says, “Top Boards,” where the handsome man is leaning watching an intense game; the position on the board indicates that these are much better players. She asks the handsome man who they are, and the man quietly explains that Beltik—the younger man—is the State Champion. He’s working on becoming a grandmaster. Beltik’s opponent, Cullen, studies the board for a long time and offers a draw, but Beltik refuses. Beltik moves his rook, and Beth sees it’s a good move. In five more moves Cullen resigns, toppling his king with disdain and shaking Beltik’s hand. Beth feels goosebumps, swelling with excitement at the game.

Beth’s next game is with a player rated 1520 named Cooke; they play quickly, and Beth realizes that he’s better than Mr. Shaibel or Mr. Ganz. He surprises her by sacrificing his queen’s bishop, but she realizes that if she took it, she would be vulnerable, so she avoids taking the bait. His fidgeting irritates her, but she doesn’t let this rattle her, instead setting up her rooks for the attack. He’s so obsessed with his own maneuvers that he’s blind to what she is doing. She knows that he will win in four moves—but she attacks him on the third move, bringing out her queen next to his rook.

When Cooke takes Beth’s queen, she wants to jump and shout with joy, but she holds herself back and checks his king with her bishop. Suddenly, Cooke sees what is happening. He offers her a draw, but she refuses, and so he resigns. He smiles at her, shaking her hand and explaining that he didn’t see her moves coming at all.

Beth’s third game is with an older man rated 1694, and she beats him in 34 moves. Afterward, the tournament breaks for dinner. There is one more round that evening, three more on Saturday, and a final round Sunday morning. In the bathroom, Beth realizes that her cheeks are flushed with color; she feels more alive, and she actually likes what she sees in the mirror.

Back outside, at the registration table, the two young men who registered Beth are writing a list of undefeated players. The first name on the list is Beltik; the last is Harmon. Beth’s breath catches, and the handsome man asks if she’s Harmon. She says yes, and he tells her to keep it up. The young man who tried to put her in the Beginner’s section tells her that she was right—she isn’t a beginner.

Beth eats dinner at home before returning. That evening, she plays a young man named Klein, rated 1794. In the middle game, things get complicated, and Beth makes an error by touching a knight despite seeing a better move with her pawn immediately after. She gets frightened at the mistake. Klein attacks her bishops, but after studying the problem for 10 minutes, she finds a continuation that suits her. She is amazed at how sharp her mind and vision are. He still gets her bishop, but she is eventually able to sacrifice her queen to win the game. He gets up, furious, without turning over his king or shaking her hand.

That night, Beth can’t sleep. All she can do is go over the games in her head. After several hours, she stares out the window at the silent street. She has 17 green pills in her toothbrush holder, but she doesn’t take them. She returns to bed, exhausted and mentally blank, and she sleeps soundly.

Saturday morning, Beth is set to play someone named Townes, who has a lower rating than her previous match. She complains to the young men at the desk, insisting that she wants to play the best players. They tell her that Townes is underrated—he came in fifth at the U.S. Open. And, if she wins her next three games, she will play Beltik.

Beth goes to Board Four to find the handsome man—whom she realizes is Townes. She shakes his hand awkwardly before realizing that she should start his clock. They each open with mechanical moves; he is attentive to the pieces. Even when he scowls, he is handsome, and Beth’s stomach feels strange when she looks at him. He starts to attack, but she defends nimbly, their pieces dancing.

It makes Beth somewhat sad when she sees how to beat Townes; in four moves she can take his rook or worse. Townes doesn’t realize what she’s doing until two moves later, and he loses his rook. He tries to continue playing before resigning the game, amazed to learn that she is only 13 years old. She hears other people murmur about her age, and she knows that she could have played this well at eight years old.

Beth’s next opponent—Goldmann—is tough and silent. He defends against everything she tries, and she gets fidgety waiting for him to move. Once on his move, she goes to the bathroom, feeling her stomach turn. In the bathroom, Annette Packer tells Beth to beat him, and Beth grins. Returning to the board and feeling refreshed, she is able to attack from multiple sides, preventing him from playing so safe. After three moves she’s at his throat, and just before his clock runs out, she checkmates him. People applaud.

After the match, Beth returns to the bathroom and realizes that she has begun to menstruate. She thinks of Jolene—if Jolene hadn’t warned her about this, she would not have known what was happening or what to do. She folds up toilet paper and tucks it into her underwear before walking confidently back to the playing area.

Beth’s next opponent is Sizemore, a small, ugly man. He hardly looks at Beth, and as the game progresses, it is very even. After a while a crowd gathers—bigger than the one watching Beltik. She can feel Sizemore creeping up on her and tries to figure out how to dislodge his position. She tries to drive distractions from her mind and sees a good option for her bishop, the picture becoming clearer. A few moves later, she sacrifices her bishop, and when he takes it, his position completely falls apart. Six moves later, he sets his king on its side and resigns. The applause is thunderous. Townes congratulates her, warning her that Beltik—her next opponent—is a “killer.” Townes wishes that he had Beth’s talent. Soon after, Beltik approaches Beth with one word: “Tomorrow.”

At home, Beth tells Mrs. Wheatley, who looks pale and strange, that she’s started menstruating. Mrs. Wheatley barely reacts, telling Beth to get pads from her bedside table. She also tells Beth that Mr. Wheatley is indefinitely detained in the Southwest. Beth asks if they will send her back to Methuen if Mrs. Wheatley doesn’t have a husband. Mrs. Wheatley says that she can lie about it—even though she might not be a real wife anymore, she can learn to be a mother.

That evening, Beth wakes up at two, unable to go back to sleep. She boils eggs in the morning, planning out her game against Beltik. It’s 7:20 a.m. and her match is at 11:00 a.m. She wishes she had a copy of Modern Chess Openings to look through. She puts on a pad and leaves before Mrs. Wheatley wakes up.

At 11:00 a.m., Beth is ready, but Beltik is nowhere to be seen. After 10 minutes, the tournament director says that she should have started at 11:00 and punched his clock. Ten minutes later, Beltik arrives looking relaxed, saying sorry for grabbing an extra cup of coffee. He introduces himself and asks her name, though she knows that he must know her name.

Beltik plays the French defense, which Beth does not like—she’s never played against it, and she doesn’t have the same knowledge. She quickly loses an advantage by giving up a pawn, and she cannot get comfortable in her seat. Her clock is ticking; 25 minutes gone to his 22, including the time he wasted by being late. She wishes she had taken a pill the night before. She sees a move that looks sensible and quickly makes it, but Beltik smiles and opens up his bishop for the attack.

Beth knows she has to do something to focus. With her clock still running, she goes to the bathroom, washing her face with cold water and checking her pad. She visualizes the chessboard, knowing that it isn’t as complicated as some other games she’s reviewed. She thinks about it until she understands what to do, washing her face again and walking back to the gym, making her move.

Beltik studies Beth’s move, and he quickly makes a sequence of moves that she knew he would. She brings her rook behind her queen and Beltik gasps. He tries to defend himself, but he can’t. She threatens his queen, leaving him pinned. Beltik looks at the board for a long time—until there are only ten minutes left on his clock, while Beth has 50—and makes his move. Beth then moves so that she either gets his queen or checkmate, and Beth says that that’s it. Beltik only has 4 minutes, but he insists that she continue to play even though she knows that the game is over. She then does what she always intended: she sacrifices her queen to get checkmate on the next move. He angrily gets up as the crowd applauds, and he offers his hand to Beth.