Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit, evolves around Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy plagued by addiction struggles, in her journey to competitive chess dominance. In the series finale, a character says, “There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
The Soviet female chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili is suing Netflix for $5m for this dialogue in the series that claimed that she ‘never played men’. She calls this dialogue “grossly sexist and belittling”.
Gaprindashvili had faced many men. According to the lawsuit, she had faced 59 men, including 10 grandmasters by the time the television series was set in 1968. Gaprindashvili stated that it demeans her contribution to the sport and the inspiration she was to the following generations of women.
