Netflix Served $6.8 Million Lawsuit Over The Queen's Gambit

Netflix are facing a $6.8 million lawsuit from Nona Gaprindashvili, an ex-Soviet, Georgian chess grandmaster who took offence when 'sexist' and 'belittling' comments were made about her in the Queen’s Gambit.

During the final episode of the limited series, a chess commentator refers to Gaprindashvili as ‘the female world champion [who] has never faced men,’ when that was simply not the case.

In reality, by 1968 (when the final episode of the show is set), Gaprindashvili had faced 59 male chess players, with ten of those holding the status of 'grandmaster'; a title which she became the first woman to receive.

The lawsuit against Netflix also highlights a problematic issue with the series’ generalization of the Soviet Union, referring to Gaprindashvili as a Russian, when her home country of Georgia had ‘suffered under Russian domination when part of the Soviet Union, and had been bullied and invaded by Russia thereafter.’

Yikes.

Fingers crossed the proposed Queen's Gambit musical is less problematic:

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