George RR Martin reveals he’s a massive fan of The Queen’s Gambit: ‘I know that world’

Author once achieved an ‘expert’ ranking in chess before he became famous for his Game of Thrones series

Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has written a lengthy post about his appreciation for Netflix’s hit chess drama, The Queen’s Gambit.

Sharing his thoughts on his website Not a Blog, the writer described how he had become a fan while searching for new entertainment “in the deep of winter”.

Explaining how the series starring Anya Taylor-Joy is an adaptation of Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name, Martin called it a “very faithful adaptation of a very strong novel… beautifully written, acted and directed”.

He said that the show would be an awards contender “if there is any justice”.

“It also resonated with me very strongly,” he continued. “I know that world. Chess was a huge part of my life in high school, in college, and especially in the years after college, the early Seventies. The Queen’s Gambit brought it all back to me vividly.”

Martin revealed that, like the protagonist, orphan Beth Harmon, he learnt chess when he was young and became the captain of his high school team, as well as the founder and president of his college chess club.

“The first two great loves of my life were girls I met at the chess club (but that’s another tale for another time),” he added.

Martin became an expert chess player “very briefly” before falling back down the rankings, and once considered devoting himself to chess after graduating university. Fans will be relieved in the knowledge that he chose writing instead.

However, even after he stopped playing, Martin wrote that chess remained a big part of his life, directing chess tournaments around the south and Midwest while trying to establish himself as a writer.

In a 2014 interview with The Independent, Martin previously revealed how the late American grandmaster Bobby Fischer’s win at the 1972 world championship against Russian Boris Spassky indirectly led to Game of Thrones, because the demand for chess tournaments meant he had an income while writing.

Bobby Fischer (right) playing Bob Hope in 1972 (Rex Features)

“The importance of chess to me was not as a player but as a tournament director," he said. “In my early twenties, I was writing. I sold a few short stories. My big dream was to be a full-time writer and support myself with my fiction, but I wasn't making enough money to pay my rent and pay the phone bill, so I had to have a day job.”

He continued: "Most writers who have to have a day job work five days a week and then they have the weekend off to write. These chess tournaments were all on the weekend so I had to work on Saturday and Sunday, but then I had five days off to write. The chess generated enough money for me to pay my bills."

“The memories [of his chess heyday] had faded, but The Queen’s Gambit brought them all back,” Martin said in his blog post. “It’s a fine series in all respects, I think, but I was especially impressed that the producers and directors got the chess right.  

“All too many of the chess games one sees in films and television are crap. Supposedly great players are shown making elementary mistakes, the pieces on the board are in impossible positions, the game is obviously over yet no one has resigned, and so forth, and so on. Not here.”

Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Martin praised the actors for mastering the moves as well as their lines of dialogue for the series.

“All in all, a terrific piece of television, says this old patzer,” he concluded.

You can read the full post and other entries on Martin’s website here.

The Queen’s Gambit was hailed by critics around the world and, at the time of writing, remains in the top 10 most-watched on Netflix, despite being released on the streaming service in October.

The Independent ranked it among the best shows of 2020 – see the full list here.