Alice Harmon tells young Beth to let men blow by
Cold open: Beth's mother warns her that men will try to teach her things, and that a strong woman stays by herself rather than settle.
S1E6 · Adjournment
19 moments · 30 min of essential viewing in a 60-minute episode.
Moments, in order
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.
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