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
Every The Queen's Gambit moment featuring Beth Harmon, in story order. Played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
109 moments · 3h 01m
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pledge party: 'trade rooks with, or whatever?'
The Apple Pi girls grill Beth about boys on the circuit and get a literal chess answer; the party moves on without her.
Townes finds Beth in Las Vegas
At the US Open Beth runs into Townes, now a chess journalist; he urges her to go world-class and invites her up for a photo.
Photo shoot in Townes's room: 'you've grown up, Harmon'
Townes photographs Beth by the window and over a board; the mood shifts as he tells her she has grown up and she asks his first name.
Roger walks in on Beth and Townes
The near-kiss is cut short when Townes's friend Roger lets himself into the room; the two retreat to a game of chess.
The one player who scares Beth
Beth recaps her Open wins and Benny Watts's legend to Alma, then admits the only name that frightens her is the Russian, Borgov.
Benny Watts: 'you shouldn't have castled'
The US Champion introduces himself and, from a printed game alone, points out the flaw in Beth's win over Beltik before walking off.
Beth loses to Benny: the exchange of queens
Beth narrates the final game move by move: the captured center pawn, the forced queen trade and the mating net she never saw coming.
Co-champion: Alma knows what losing feels like
Alma tries to frame the shared title as normal; Beth snaps that she knows nothing about chess, then brushes off Townes's goodbye.
Stoned Beth becomes 'Beth Nimrod' at a college party
Beth, high at a Russian-class party, trades deadpan lines with a student who has no idea who the US Open co-champion is.
Beth tells Alma she spent the night with a boy
Beth phones home to say she won't be back; Alma's worry turns into a wry warning about famous last words.
Graduation, a Bulova watch and an invitation to Paris
Alma gives Beth a graduation watch and learns the summer schedule: Mexico City, the US Championship, then Paris.
Alma confesses her Mexican pen pal Manuel
Over a beer on the plane, Alma admits she has been writing to a man in Mexico for years and he is meeting them at the airport.
Matt and Mike gossip about Alma's new friend
The twins greet Beth in Mexico City and bluntly sum up what Alma has been doing with the man in the green Dodge.
Alma blames the altitude, then the culture
Giddy in the hotel room, Alma philosophizes about Latin Catholics living in the here and now; Beth tells her to stop reading Alan Watts.
Alma tells Beth chess is not all there is
Beth insists she must study endgames before facing a grandmaster; Alma argues intuition can't be found in books and that she needs to relax.
Your gift and what it costs
At the hotel bar Beth hears a quiet warning about her anger, her time in the sun, and the price of her gift.
Radio report: Harmon crushes the field in Mexico City
A broadcaster narrates Beth's undefeated run while she recounts a mating net in 31 moves to a delighted Alma.
Alma on the balcony: it was fun while it lasted
Manuel has gone to Oaxaca for good; Alma puts on a brave face and asks Beth to dinner instead.
Five hours against a 13-year-old Soviet prodigy
Beth's marathon game with a young Soviet is adjourned; her opponent asks whether Americans really watch movies from their cars.
'I resign the old-fashioned way'
The prodigy tips his king, vows to be world champion by 16, and cannot grasp Beth's question about what comes after.
Alma plays piano for the hotel lounge
Beth finds her mother at the piano with an audience, stage fright forgotten, and the two decide to eat in the room.
The Soviets size up Beth in the elevator
Borgov's circle discusses how to deal with Harmon: an attacker, an orphan, a survivor for whom losing is not an option.
Beth vs Borgov: the Rossolimo
Matt and Mike talk the crowd through the opening as Borgov sidesteps Beth's Sicilian with a rare line; 'Borgov's not a machine' - 'That you know of.'
Beth recounts the loss, then finds Alma
Beth tells her mother the game felt like a foregone conclusion, Borgov's face showing no doubt and no weakness, before realizing Alma is not answering.
Hepatitis, possibly, and a significant liquor bill
A doctor offers sedatives and the hotel manager offers condolences while noting the many margaritas on the account.
Allston Wheatley washes his hands of Alma
Beth calls Denver with the news; Allston refuses to come, tells her to bury Alma in Kentucky and keep the house if she pays the mortgage.
Harry Beltik calls with condolences and an offer
Out of nowhere, Harry phones Beth about her loss to Borgov and offers to train her for the Soviets; she tells him to come over right now.
The gawky kid grew up: Harry's books are all old news
Harry arrives at the house with a stack of chess books and finds Beth has already read every one of them.
We're all prima donnas: anger as a potent spice
Beth says she plays by ear like Capablanca; Harry warns her stubborn anger narrows her vision and quotes his second grade teacher on spice.
Harry spent his tuition on new teeth
Beth can't work out what's different about Harry until he admits he fixed his teeth with his college money, and says it was worth it.
Wiped out five times: Harry tells Beth to read Borgov's games
After beating Beth repeatedly at speed chess, Harry insists Borgov needs years more work and hands her Leningrad 1962; she mocks him alone.
Study montage: I can fight against anyone but time
Beth reads the masters' words on attack and regret while Harry walks her through Smyslov versus Botvinnik and a possibly drugged tea.
Margaret from Fairfield High and the window of opportunity
An old classmate with a baby corners Beth in the shop, remembering the Apple Pi visit and calling the chess boys a real thrill.
Philidor, Diderot and why Harry fixed his teeth
Harry warns about going mad for vanity's sake, then confesses he was waiting for Beth to come back; she answers with Morphy and his shoes.
Harry admits he doesn't love chess the way Beth does
Over breakfast Harry says he's taught her all he knows and is leaving for his apartment; she has helped him see he isn't obsessed enough to win it all.
Beth meets Benny Watts again: get past me first
At the US Championship, Benny greets Beth over her Borgov loss, rails against cheap plastic boards, and promises he stands between her and Moscow.
Benny's interview and the knife
Benny tells a reporter to read his book and get in shape, then invites Beth to speed chess; she asks why he carries a knife. For protection.
Five bucks a game: Benny's speed chess hustle
Benny sends Weiss for coffee, orders apple juice in a milk glass, and beats Beth at blitz again and again at five dollars a game.
You attack like Alekhine: Benny and Beth before the final game
Benny apologizes for the hustle, calls Beth the best player here, and the two trade notes on playing whole games in their heads.
Raging inwardly: Benny loses in thirty moves and mentions Moscow
Beth has beaten Benny and can outdrink him too; he says the US winner goes to the Moscow Invitational, which she never knew.
Come to New York: Benny offers to train Beth
Benny warns Beth she'll be washed up by 21 if she keeps drinking, offers his living room and a drive to New York, and settles the sex question.
Beth and Benny play blind chess on the drive to New York
Benny and Beth call out a Sicilian line from memory in the car and bicker about reading footnotes while Beth starts to feel carsick.
Benny's crash course: workmanlike chess and the Soviet team
Benny diagnoses Beth as bored by ordinary chess, she spots an error Reuben Fine missed, and he explains why the Soviets win: they help each other.
Beth solves Hilton's favorite problem in seconds
Benny's friends arrive with Cleo in tow; Beth, who says she finds chess problems irrelevant, cracks a mate-in-three almost instantly.
Cleo on Benny, Paris and why models are empty creatures
Cleo tells Beth how she met the chess crowd, admits she fell for Benny, and delivers her withering take on modeling and models.
Beth beats Benny and his friends in a speed-chess simultaneous
Benny proposes a simul with speed chess to get an edge; Beth bets ten dollars on every board, wins, and makes them go again and again.
Nobody has done that to Benny in fifteen years
After the guests leave, a stunned Benny admits not even Borgov has beaten him like that, and Beth asks whether he still likes her hair.
Pillow talk: Benny tells Beth to play the Sicilian against Borgov
In bed, Benny's mind goes straight back to chess: play your own line, never his, and nobody says check at the big tournaments. Beth is unimpressed.
Paris press conference: Beth's Adam's apple retort
Borgov says he will likely die with his head on a chessboard; asked if she is too glamorous to be serious, Beth answers with a perfect one-liner.
Cleo calls from the hotel bar the night before the final
Cleo phones Beth's room and tempts her down for one drink; Beth says she has the final tomorrow and should sleep, so Cleo goes to toast her alone.
One drink: pastis and Beth's Paris daydream
Beth joins Cleo after all, tries pastis, and imagines a future as world champion living in Paris; Cleo tells her talent will buy that life.
Cleo and Beth toast to unrequited love and stupid men
Cleo asks blunt questions about Benny and love; Beth admits the name that still matters is Townes, and the two women raise their glasses.
Hungover Beth loses the final to Borgov
Woken by hotel staff with the hall waiting, Beth stumbles into the rematch against Borgov, cannot see the board clearly, and resigns.
Benny calls after Paris and Beth says she wants to get drunk
On the phone Benny begs Beth to come to New York instead of being alone; she thanks him for everything and admits she does not know what she is doing.
Allston Wheatley: 'Not in my book' - Beth calls him pathetic
Wheatley denies ever promising Beth the house and disowns her as an orphan; Beth answers that Alma was stuck, not pathetic, and he is the pathetic one.
Beth buys the house out from under Wheatley
Told he is selling, Beth offers to buy the house on the spot, haggles him to seven thousand, and deducts what she paid to bury her mother.
Christian Crusade's letter and Benny's advice to take the money
A religious group offers to fund Beth's trip to the USSR; Benny tells her they want her to beat Communists for Jesus and says he misses her.
Annette Packer thanks Beth for her first official win
At the Kentucky tournament a hungover Beth meets the woman she beat in fifteen minutes years ago, who came just to say it showed her what was possible.
Harry Beltik tells Beth she smells like his father
Harry, now working at the supermarket, confronts Beth about her drinking; she lashes out at his job, and he wishes her luck anyway.
Jolene turns up at Beth's door with news of Mr. Shaibel
Jolene reappears after years, teases Beth about her house, brings word that Mr. Shaibel has died and lays out her plan to become a lawyer and a radical.
Jolene tells Beth to stop digging and gives her a present
Jolene sees the pills and wine, cuts through Beth's Michelangelo self-pity, tells her to stop digging, then reveals she took the book years ago.
Car ride: Jolene on the law firm, Rick and wanting what Beth has
Driving to Methuen, Jolene explains the gifted car, the white firm that hired her for the times, and why she envies Beth's long run at the top.
Beth returns to her mother's trailer and remembers Deardorff
Beth and Jolene stop at the abandoned trailer; a Methuen flashback of Mrs. Deardorff on choices and consequences, and Beth decides never to go back in.
Shaibel's funeral: Deardorff's hip and the ten dollars
At the chapel service Jolene notes nobody is crying, reports Deardorff's fall after Beth left, and Beth confesses she still owes Shaibel ten dollars.
Beth finds Shaibel's wall of clippings in the Methuen basement
Beth goes back down to the basement where she learned chess, discovers Shaibel kept every article about her, and breaks down in Jolene's arms.
Beth refuses the Christian Crusade statement and gives the money back
The Crusade wants Beth to publicly denounce Soviet atheism; she calls it nonsense, says she is not sure she is a Christian, and returns their funding.
Benny hangs up on Beth: maybe is a loser's word
Beth phones Benny for Moscow money and company; he explodes at her for choosing drink over him and tells her never to call again.
Jolene pays for Moscow: we weren't orphans, that's what family does
Jolene offers her law-school savings for the trip, refuses the guardian-angel label, and tells Beth they have always been each other's family.
Flight rules from the State Department minder, then arrival in Moscow
On the plane Beth's escort lists the rules and asks her to watch Borgov for signals; she lands in Moscow, checks into the hotel and is welcomed to Russia.
The Moscow Invitational opens and Beth thrashes Laev in 27 moves
The tournament opens with a Huxley quote on the chessboard as the world; commentary explains how Laev underestimated the unknown American.
Luchenko attacks and the game is adjourned: did we win or lose?
Commentary sets up the former World Champion Luchenko, the game goes to adjournment, and Beth's minder has to ask what adjourning means.
Luchenko resigns with relief and calls Beth a marvel
Beth beats Luchenko with 25 minutes left; the old champion resigns graciously and says he may have just played the best chess player of his life.
Borgov declines the Queen's Gambit and the final game begins
Commentary walks through the opening of Beth versus Borgov: her Queen's Gambit, his surprising rare line, her deviation from the Albin, through to adjournment.
Press scrum: Beth makes Time print William Shaibel's name
Mobbed by reporters, Beth sets the record straight about learning chess from a janitor, then a Lexington reporter turns out to be a familiar face.
Townes apologizes and becomes Beth's second
In her hotel room Townes explains the visa, they clear the air about Las Vegas, and Beth admits she asked for pills before realizing she does not need them.
Benny, Harry, Matt and Mike call from New York: go beat him
The morning of the adjourned game, Benny's crew has worked the position all night and phones Moscow with variations, ending with Benny's send-off.
Borgov offers a draw and Beth refuses
The adjourned game resumes, Borgov goes off script and then offers Beth a draw; commentary weighs it, but Elizabeth Harmon loves to win.
Beth sees the board on the ceiling and Borgov hands her his king
Beth visualizes the endgame sober, Borgov resigns and gives her his king, the hall erupts, and Jolene watches at home.
Beth leaves the car and plays with the old men in the park
On the way to the airport Beth stops the car, walks to a Moscow park where the old men recognize Liza Harmon, and sits down to play.