Beth Harmon’s game against D.L. Townes was my favourite game in The Queen’s Gambit. See me break down this nail-biting sequence for @NetflixNordic. #TheQueensGambit #MagnusCarlsen #chess
@@ayushrawal7436 but it really is out of context quote here. Muhammed is saying that this guy shouldn't be ashamed. Borgov shouldn't be smiling in the other video because he was losing and offered a draw that would be terrible etiquette at high level of play. Idk, just seems like an odd quote to drop on this video at all. There's no shame in losing but being disrespectful is another thing entirely.
@@huvrmedia this is a joke... uts supposed to be funny and I have to say, it worked for me😂 if you dont like it, thats fine but calling it „an odd quote“ is really overreacting and suggests that you didn‘t get the joke at all
@@huvrmedia Uhhh no. The joke was that Borgov in that match made a terrible blunder, and instead of playing for a draw, pushed for the win, and lost the match. Because of his poor level of play in that match, Magus says that he should be ashamed of himself, which is also the case here. It could have been an easy draw but my man went for a win, and ultimately ended up losing, thus completing the cycle of the joke
I love that they made the shows chess so realistic, to a point where actual chess players could follow the chess's storyline and that the producers didn't just move around random pieces around. Just makes me appreciate the story even more
I w @@oliverxhmll I would say high likelihood of certainty. What a concept: Hire folks expert on the subject matter of a movie you're making. Who'd a'thunk a'such a thing?
Watching the series, I thought Townes blundered his rook with that last move. However, seeing it here, I realized that the rook had no where to go. Thanks for showing this.
From Chapter Four of the novel by Walter Tevis, describing this game: "It made her sad in a way when she eventually saw how to beat him....and she felt herself resisting it as it opened up in her mind, hating to let go of the pleasant ballet they had danced together. But there it was: four moves and he would have to lose a rook or worse. She hesitated and made the first move of the sequence." "He didn't see what was happening until two moves later, when he frowned suddenly and said, "Jesus Christ Harmon, I'm going to drop a rook!" She loved his voice; she loved the way he said it. He shook his head in mock bafflement; she loved that." Now watch carefully the expressions on Beth's face as she reacts to his moves during this sequence. Amazing job by the filmmakers and actors.
What I find noteworthy here, is how all involved artists recreated the exact moment from the book. Basically: Kasparov (or maybe Pandolfini) who both consulted for show, came up with the game sequence mirroring one simple line from book: "four moves and he would have to lose a rook or worse". Scott Frank and his cameraman then came with the scene. And finaly both actors made it come alive for audience, including all the unsaid emotions. + lets not forget composer Carlos Rivera and his music track "Playing Townes", that takes the whole scene even notch higher and underscores the emotions. "Show, don't tell" at its finest. This is how you translate from one media (book) into another (film) like a f** BOSS.
I also thought there was some chemistry between them, but then thought that wouldn't be possible because a) she's just a kid here, and b) the implication (from later in the series) was that Townes was homosexual and the affection/attraction was one-sided on Beth's part, no?
@@UVjoint He did tell her he was confused by her for a while (maybe believing he might be bisexual?). So I think he mistook admiration for sexual attraction. Here he is really mesmerized by her. But not necessarily by her looks but more by her brain and wit. At least that's how I understood it
@@alenciaga21 Yeah, you put it very well, and I agree. It's also possible for attraction to be at different levels, right, like romantic but asexual attraction, and so on.
@@UVjoint The actors both clearly play this scene as if there is mutual sexual attraction. Which is pretty disappointing because it really does not make sense in universe. Like its fine that Beth is attracted to him, it fits with the story, but she flirts like a 20 year old not like a 13 to 15 year old. He also plays the scene like someone sexually interested when this is entirely unnecessary for the plot. Like sure in universe its easy to explain as platonic interest but its very obviously not directed or acted that way. Both actors playing much younger characters also makes the scene worse. You are totally pulled out of the idea that Beth is an anxious teenager finding confidence her abilities at chess. But meh lots of aspects of this sequence of scenes are also great. And its a pretty common TV fudge to just insert sexual tension for drama to keep stories from slagging.
I was wondering how the show's producers came up with such authentic looking games until I read that Kasparov was involved in it then I understood. :-)
Yes, producer will often have consultants help. For example, Jeremy Silman composed the game played in Harry Potter movies, despite not being credited. In this case, this position is actually a composition from the early 1900’s
I love how he sees the game as simply lovely…almost intimate, shy. I just see chess pieces, but I appreciate that at the Magnus level, it’s all about art.
That’s what makes this so much better. Having someone on the same level of the fictional cherictor talking about what happened is fascinating. Plus the fact that he’s able to see something so simply that a lot of people missed showed how she won.
@@TheHimbeerjoghurt How would you know what the level of a fictional character is lmao. She defeated the GM in the story. That's good enough for a comparison.
Fun fact: this was composed by Henri Rinck and in 1927 was featured in “700 Fins de Partie”. It is also #1016 in Kasparyan’s essential “Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies”. If you want a seemingly endless supply of these types of puzzles, this is the book to get.
Its so cool, when I started working as an extra on the set I never expected the series to explode like it did! Was a grat time there, and now I am even more proud that I was a part of it (even though a small part)
@@divinemotion2738 I was a chess player in the kentucky tournament (you can see me in the opening shot, where the camera zoom out and shows all the people that sit down to play) - like I said, small role, but beeing there, seeing the actors and just beeing a part of it was really cool! I especially loved the Mellings performance, he is such a great actor!
@@studenthtw-gamedesign5826 Sounds awesome! I'll make sure to pay more attention to that scene when I rewatch the season, even though I might not be able to single you out individually. What was meeting the actors like? Sorry if I'm a bit inquisitive.
So much this. With the terrible view of the board in this scene when I watched the series, I thought white just senselessly hung the rook at the end. This makes much more sense.
I like how magnus introduces himself, even tho he can choose not do it Edit:- Guys no disrespect or sarcasm intended, Infact I am appreciative of his humility and innocence since day one
@@Kapoor949 I'm sure that 18 yo would dismantle you in the first 3 moves. Gtfo. When you become world champion you will boast the title as much as you please. For now stfu
@Ankita Desai There is this 'sher' from Ghalib which goes like- "wo puchte hai ghalib kaun hai, koi hume batlaye ki hum batlaye kya". I think Magnus lowkey knows this as well that he can choose not to introduce himself..but i guess all these analysis of the show is supervised by Netflix and they might have a hand in adding that little introduction there
Not a fair comparison, Magnus was an upper middle class boy who had chess around him, with his father and sisters being quite strong, and he started playing at a pretty young age. Beth was a foster child with practically no support, played a little when she was 9 and then stopped playing for six years. The deck was stacked against her from the beginning, and she still became one of the strongest players in the world in only 7 years of classical chess competition
I cannot even imagine the depth of intelligence people like Magnus has. I mean they are not like just having photographic memories...they have the thinking ability to make use of the excellent memory. Nice to see he is just a humble guy with his explanation. Love you bro.
Magnus is a literal genius though, photographic memory and an iq above 140, and beating grandmasters when he was a child, he did not have the luxury of repetition and experience the older players had, chess is something where even if you are the hardest worker in the world you wont reach top 10 if youre not a genius
I liked the show a lot, even though I had no clue what happen in the chess matches. I am very happy the show took the actual chess games so seriously that it satisfying real life grandmasters.
I've been rewatching it after playing hundreds of chess games. It's still hard for me to analyze what's going on when I can't see the board that cleanly or get used to the pieces' shape. Seems like a hard game to watch in person too. Maybe they announce the moves or have a board people can look at. Idk. But yeah, I appreciate the drama, but can't follow the games so well without a computer screen.
That rook fork is mad!! Thanks for going through that, it took me a few seconds to realise how mad that position is, when I actually watched it I didn’t take too much notice of the positions because I’d never played chess, but now I do, love these vids nice one
My biggest complaint about this show was that as someone who knows very little about chess, I walked away from it not really knowing much more about chess than when I started. Because the show did not do much in this area, it was very hard to understand what made Harmon great/genius. I more or less just had to take the show's word that she was a phenomenal player without understanding it at all. I'm glad to see these videos because it shows that the show itself understands chess well enough to write these scenarios and they can be appreciated by someone who does have a great understanding of the game. Also makes me happy to see because you can break down the games and explain them to a laymen like me. Honestly I wish the show had gone on a few episodes longer to help give that understanding to people that don't already have it, but maybe it was the right call as that may have very well bored the average viewer. Anyway great video, thanks for the upload Magnus!
The show's focus was never chess. It was Elizabeth's control over her genius and madness. She crosses this fine line many times and in the series we grow with her: seeing her go from addicted to a person who has taken control of her life.
The show was written with the internet age in mind. The writers know that people can Google stuff up. Plus Netflix can further promote the show by having a chess champion explain set pieces on social media.
@@haruharu8057 Sure. I'm not saying the show needed to have those elements, I'm just saying I would have liked it a lot more if it did. I liked it plenty regardless.
That was marvelous. Marvelous that the game could hold up under his scrutiny. Marvelous to have him explain what made this such great chess. A drama within a drama that nobody but somebody highly proficient in chess would get.
@@matthewrikihana6818 It's amazing what's possible when your country is not composed of sloths and idiots. Visiting you Kiwis in your home country is a dream I'll probably never see fulfilled. It is a dream. I have to settle for Scotland. It could be worse.
I see a bright future for you, Magnus. I very much enjoyed your analysis of that game and it opened my eyes to her grasp of what was going on all the time, as well as her self control to not tip him off to take another look at what might happen, so he went ahead with what appeared to be a "safe" move.
Watching Magnus explain the game made me realize the genius of the screenplay. Each game matched the theme of the scene. This scene's game is simple, lovely, imaginative matched with Anya's flirty looks, it has a sense of playfulness in it. The end game with the grandmaster was cunning, ruthless, and punishing very in tune with the atmosphere of the story
I enjoyed the series and it's only more interesting to learn that some of the chess movements were legitimate. Mr. Carlsen makes it easy to understand.
All the games in the show are legitimate, they hired formed world champion Garry Kasparov to create them. It would be embarrassing if a show about chess got the chess part wrong.
Thank you for explaining exactly this sequence. It's hard to keep up with the actual moves when watching the movie but I did notice specifically this ending and that the last move by white looked like a novice mistake. ... Moving directly into a fork. But seeing the whole position there's more to it.
My grandfathers father was a chess master here in sweden. Tocklin was his name. I don't know why, but i've always been proud of that. Chess is amazing. So complex, yet so elegant.
2:00 I'm such a beginner and so dumb I wondered why the rook can't just move to H4 / E5 / C5, and didn't really understand what Magnus meant by "forked by the knight". Had to play it in my head and understood what it meant. The knight is so powerfully positioned here
Honestly, I always thought that this match of 1963 between Townes and Harmon was a dance, a waltz of some sort. And this particular scene was not only to show off Beth's intellect in making offensive moves that would be effective even if her opponent hasn't realized it, but it also hints at how Beth is flirting with Townes through the use of the board. The way she advances and moves her king to trap his rook is teasing, flirtatious, like a high school girl trying to get her crush to notice her. The entire match was like a prince and his princess dancing at the center of the ballroom, lit by the spotlight and not caring at all about the bystanders. That was beautiful.
Beth looking up at possible moves in her mind made the point that she still had her eidetic memory intact without any chemical use, and it was the superpower she had developed from childhood, being deprived of the one thing she really loved, chess, and needing to play it in her head.
Lol 😂 so humble to introduce himself. This dude needs no intro. Surprised that he has time to watch Netflix too! 😆 I hope he gets invited in a cameo role in other future chess related series. Cheers 🍻
Oh man, you are so awesome at chess. I love this movie especially because I’m a girl and I love playing chess. I won a couple of Knight School trophies.
That's so cool, but in my country there are not a lot of chess tournaments so i dont get to play, but im also really good at it, i have learned all the openings. Do u play Royal chess?
Imagine magnus gf and his m watching this mini serie Gf : wow beth is so good he even beats beltik Magnus : lol no beltik should be ashamed he's a noob
Det var veldig fint at Netflix var kompetent for å fange unges oppmerksomhet igjen på sjakkspillet, selv i en verden fylt med video games og datamaskiner
I just love this match too. The presence of her king at the end and having her other pieces already set up for the move, he just walks right into it. I guess he didn't want the draw as the move was obvious but then again in games like this is can be easy to get overly focused on just one idea. It's almost a weakness Beth has throughout the show unless she does her thing. I have a thing for any game that heavily involves the use of the king.
My brain melted multiple times in this show, every games was a bullet with respect to the fiction time frames. The Opening was also nice, untill the Queen gambit, which this game with Thomas, was the first if I recall right. Really beutiful episode to rewatch.
This reminds me of a game I played where I lost my queen on the 5th or 6th move. I was so upset with myself I decided to lose the game on purpose, so I began to sacrifice all of my pieces. One by one just for the fun of it, the whole thing was just plain silly. But at the end, I saw I still had a rook, a knight, and a bishop left, while my opponent only lost two of his pawns. My King was all surrounded by his pieces but, all of a sudden, I realized I could win the game with three moves and I did! I checkmated my opponent while I tried to lose the game! Chess is so amazing in that way and that's why I love the game so much!
I would go for b7, the rook will have to block the pawn and leave the knight undefended ( im a 700 player pls don’t take me seriously) The knight cant defend the b8 square due to the rook
I've played a good bit of chess, but I didn't really pay attention to most the matches while watching this show. This is quite a beautiful setup for the chess consultor to come up with. Its seems quite believable not to see that trap till its too late. At first glance it doesn't seem that taking that pawn sacrifices the rook.