Paris cold open: Beth wakes up late for the match
A hotel clerk pounds on the door while a hungover Beth scrambles out of a bathtub, dresses in a rush and takes her seat across the board.
Beth Harmon's Best Moments
Every The Queen's Gambit moment featuring Beth Harmon, in story order. Played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
109 moments · 3h 01m · by Favseen
Moments 1–30 of 109
- 01
- 02
Mrs. Deardorff sells Beth to the Wheatleys as a 13-year-old
The adoption interview: Deardorff shaves two years off Beth's age and pitches her as the model Methuen girl while the Wheatleys size her up.
- 03
Beth and Jolene say goodbye
Beth cannot find her chess book, Jolene coaches her on how to please a Christian home, and Beth apologizes that Jolene never got adopted.
- 04
Beth gets a room of her own
Alma tours Beth through the Wheatley house; Beth can barely believe the whole maple-furnished room is hers.
- 05
Alma at the piano: stage fright and a lost child
Alma plays Grandmother June's piano and tells Beth about the orchestra career that stage fright and a pregnancy ended.
- 06
Beth answers the binomial question on day one
First day at Fairfield High: the popular girls mock the coach, then Beth stands and defines a binomial perfectly, earning instant contempt.
- 07
Allston comes home for one night
Allston blows in with news of a bigger territory and leaves Beth feeling unwanted; Alma insists adopting her was his idea.
- 08
No chess set at Ben Snyder's, only a blouse and 40 cents
Alma dresses Beth in cheap clothes with room to grow and brushes off the chess sets with a lesson in saving on a tiny allowance.
- 09
Seven dollars, no allowance, and a letter to Mr. Shaibel
Alma cannot explain where the money went and cuts Beth's allowance; Beth asks for a job to enter a tournament, then writes Mr. Shaibel for five dollars.
- 10
Alma's tranquility medicine
A sniffling Alma sends Beth to fill her prescription; Beth recognizes the green pills from Methuen and watches Alma wash them down.
- 11
Put me in the Open
Unrated and in a tournament for the first time, Beth refuses the beginners section and demands the Open despite the warning that she will be eaten alive.
- 12
Beth's first tournament game against Annette Packer
Beth learns how chess clocks and touch-move work from her opponent, then wins so fast she has to ask what to do with the scoresheet.
- 13
Hell, no: Beth refuses draws and demands Beltik
Beth spots State Champion Beltik, rejects two draw offers on her way to four wins, then badgers the director about getting to play the best.
- 14
Beth humiliates Townes's rook
Beth and Townes play after a day of circling each other; he jokes about his suffering rook, asks her age, and tells her she really is something.
- 15
Annette helps Beth through her first period
Mid-tournament in the bathroom, Beth's first period arrives; Annette hands over supplies, admits she still throws up before games, and asks Beth to beat him.
- 16
Alma admits Allston is gone and promises to be a mother
Beth asks for pads and fetches Alma's pills; Alma reveals Allston is staying away for good, agrees to lie to Methuen, and vows to learn to be a mother.
- 17
Final against Beltik: Beth loses her cool
Harry Beltik strolls in late with coffee, the game goes badly, and Beth retreats to the bathroom to swear at the mirror and pull herself together.
- 18
Do you see it now? Beth shows Beltik the mate
Beltik refuses to resign, so Beth walks him through the forced finish in her head until he has to concede the state title.
- 19
Alma reads the headline and learns chess pays
Alma reads the newspaper report of Beth's state championship, discovers the prize money, and agrees to open a bank account with her.
- 20
Alma plans Cincinnati and a case of mono
Alma has costed out a 500-dollar tournament trip, hotel and bus included, and offers to forge a mononucleosis excuse for school.
- 21
Beth out-analyses a hustler's Caro-Kann lecture
In the Cincinnati lobby a cocky player dismisses the Caro-Kann; Beth names the 1935 game he is showing and finds the win he missed.
- 22
Beth looks for weaknesses and finds none
Alma asks why Beth is replaying her own games; Beth's deadpan verdict on her play earns a proud 'good girl'.
- 23
Alma meets Matt and Mike after Beth's win
Thrilled by her first live chess game, Alma is introduced to the twins and immediately starts sizing them up.
- 24
Dinner talk: the US Open, Europe and the Soviets
Beth asks how to get invited to play abroad; the twins explain that the Soviets are paid professionals who eat Americans alive.
- 25
Alma negotiates her agent's commission
Counting the prize money, Alma proposes a cut for herself; Beth does the arithmetic and offers a bigger one.
- 26
Alma's scheme: a fake cold and Christmas in Houston
With clippings piling up, Alma phones in Beth's 'relapse' to the school and plans a holiday tournament trip dressed up as a spa vacation.
- 27
Best Christmas ever: Gibsons and Russian lessons
Over a hotel Christmas dinner Alma explains her cocktail preference and Beth decides she needs to learn Russian.
- 28
Life interview: a whole world in 64 squares
A reporter pushes the orphan-girl angle; Beth answers with why the board, not the pieces, is where she feels safe and in control.
- 29
Apophenia: the reporter asks if genius is madness
The interviewer floats pattern-seeing and psychosis; Beth asks if she is being called crazy and Alma ends the interview.
- 30
The Life article: 'out for blood' and a toast to motherhood
Alma reads the magazine profile aloud; Beth is annoyed it is all about her being a girl, and calls out Alma's drinking.