Find combinations inspired by the games of chess greats like Greco, Morphy, Reti and more. Ironically, Ledger was a chess player himself and was battling addiction. Actor Thomas is known for playing Jojen Reed in Game Of Thrones and Newt in the Maze Runner film series. Though “The Queen’s Gambit” is a work of fiction and the characters that appear in it never existed, there are passing references to players who did, among them the world champions José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik and Boris Spassky. The first time Beth plays Benny Watts, the reigning US champion, at the US Open in Las Vegas, he defeats her. Marcin Dorociński as Vasily Borgov, the current Soviet-Russian world champion chess player and Beth's strongest competitor. Thomas Brodie-Sangster has a net worth of around $2 million. Wearing black symbolizes how he must defend himself from Beth’s attacks on his title, as black is always the second player to move in chess. I think there’s something beautifully simple about that.”, Although, he hasn’t watched the film in years, he said, “I might watch 10 minutes every now and again, but the last time I sat down and watched it all the way through? Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays Benny Watts Credit: Netflix Love Actually star Thomas plays Benny - the arrogant, confident and calm chess player who becomes one of Beth’s greatest opponents as well as one of her closest allies. Walter Tevis, who wrote the 1983 novel on which the series is based, was a passionate and knowledgeable amateur player. The parallels between Beth and Fischer are numerous (minus her drug use, which, by the way, would have only diminished, not improved, her play). Brodie-Sangster spends his free time playing the bass and riding around in his old school car, which is featured in the music video “Ballad of You & I” by Hotel Lux. He was the oldest player participating in the Chess Championship held in Moscow, Russia. Harry Beltik Harry Beltik. Beth wins the 1967 U.S. championship. © 2021 by Tango Media Corporation All Rights Reserved. Beth Harmon (center) observes the action at a chess tournament in a scene from “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix; she is played by Anya Taylor-Joy. Like Beth, he had a knack for the game as a child, but unlike her, was given opportunities from an early age, and by the time they meet, he’s a seasoned champion who doesn’t bother to compete half the time. Townes. Sergio Di Zio as Beth's father. The most apparent is in how fast the players move during the tournaments. Over the decades, it has become almost a running gag among chess fans to point out mistakes in onscreen portrayals of the game. Later, with the help of ex-Kentucky … She also loves music and even wrote and recorded a song “Morning Sun” in 2018. Here’s What ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Gets Right. That coincides with the peak of Fischer’s career, which ran from 1957, when he won the U.S. championship at 14, to 1972, when he won the world championship at 29 and quit competing. A post shared by Gzi (@gziwisdom) on Jul 16, 2020 at 4:26am PDT, RELATED: Noah Centineo And Stassie Karanikolaou Spark Dating Rumors After Romantic Dinner Outing. Townes. Fischer was a pioneer as a full-time professional player in the United States. Soon after Fischer’s older sister, Joan, married and moved out, his mother, Regina, did, too, to pursue a medical degree. Bobby Fischer, seated right, plays against Paul Keres in Slovenia in 1959. Beth Harmon is a chess player, one of the greatest ever to have lived. RELATED: 15 Things You Never Knew About Zoe Laverne, The 19-Year-Old TikTok Star Who Kissed A 13-Year-Old Fan. The tactical highlight was her brilliant demolition of Benny, modeled on one of the most famous games in the history of chess. Townes Townes. Other than offering a draw — essentially agreeing that the match ends in a tie — players do not speak to each other during matches. Beth Harmon and Benny Watts's shared chess prowess and competitive spirit make them a seemingly perfect match - why did their relationship fail? For example, the match in which Beth defeats Harry for the Kentucky state title was from a game in Riga, Latvia, in 1955; the last speed chess game in which she beats Benny was played at the Paris Opera in 1858; and the game in which she faces the Russian champion Vasily Borgov (Marcin Dorocinski) in the series finale was played in Biel, Switzerland, in 1993. In that same episode, Benny Watts told Beth she attacks just like Alekhine, the same player who Luchenko beat when he was a boy. Harry Melling (right), the beastly Dudley Dursley in … All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. Us Americans, we work alone because we’re all such individualists. Recurring. Today, he's 30 years old, born on May 16, 1990, making him a Taurus. In 'The Queen's Gambit,' Brodie-Sangster plays Benny, a would-be grandmaster with the chess IQ of Bobby Fischer and the cocksure swagger of an American cowboy. He's particularly talented at speed chess, though his winning streak doesn't last. The charming Benny Watts, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, is also a chess champion who starts off as Harmon’s rival but then becomes friends with her. Marielle Heller plays the role of Alma Wheatley in the series. The dialogue makes the games more understandable and spices up the drama, but once again, it is not true to life. “I was the face of chess excellence in this country before a kid from Kentucky went skipping down the steps of some orphanage one day and decided to cut down the ego of every player in her path.” When it comes to how chess is portrayed onscreen, chess players are a notoriously picky and unforgiving crowd. Wisdom also runs her own shop filled with vintage outfits on the app Depop. Beth and her chess champion friend Benny Watts, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s girlfriend is 24-year-old model and photographer Gzi Wisdom. Jaycee Levin is a writer, influencer, and blogger living in New York who loves celebrities, fashion, and reality television. Fischer himself had been very dismissive of female players, saying in a 1963 interview that they were “terrible” and that a likely reason was that “they are not so smart.” Making Beth recall a female Fischer may have been a sneaky, and wonderful, way to send up that assessment. Everything To Know About Thomas Brodie-Sangster From Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit', 15 Things You Never Knew About Zoe Laverne, The 19-Year-Old TikTok Star Who Kissed A 13-Year-Old Fan, Noah Centineo And Stassie Karanikolaou Spark Dating Rumors After Romantic Dinner Outing, 9 Things You Never Knew About Austin Abrams, Star Of Netflix's 'Dash & Lily', Was Chip Gaines At The U.S. Capitol Riots? Dan Lucas, one of the senior officials at the United States Chess Federation, has kept an unofficial list for years. At such a tempo, they would finish their games in minutes, not hours. She … Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” about a female chess prodigy, has become a miniseries, premiering Friday on Netflix. Vasily Borgov. The exchange between Beth (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and Benny (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) reflects an insider’s knowledge of chess in the United States at the time that the show is set and is one of the many reasons that the series is one of the best and most successful screen adaptations of the game, a short list that includes the 2016 film “Queen of Katwe” and “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” from 1993. Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Benny Watts, a brash young man who is the reigning United States chess champion and one of Beth's most challenging competitors, later a mentor and friend. Benny Watts Benny Watts. He has lost his crown. Though “The Queen’s Gambit” has its flaws, in the end the series is a clear winner. Marcin Dorociński as Vasily Borgov, the current Soviet-Russian world champion chess player and Beth's strongest competitor. Marcin Dorociński as Vasily Borgov, the current Soviet-Russian world champion chess player and Beth's strongest competitor. Playing white. 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