By TREVOR HOGG
In recent years there have been no shortage of movies featuring chess, whether it be The Dark Horse (2014), Pawn Sacrifice (2014), Queen of Katwe (2016), The Coldest Game (2019) or Critical Thinking (2020). The overriding challenge is to take what is essentially a mental sport and make it a visceral and dynamic cinematic experience. Such was the case for filmmaker Scott Frank (A Walk Among the Tombstones) and screenwriter Allan Scott (Don’t Look Now) when adapting The Queen’s Gambit, penned by novelist Walter Tevis, into a miniseries for Netflix. A female chess prodigy has to overcome personal trauma, drug addiction, alcoholism and sexual discrimination in order to fulfill her ambition of becoming a world champion.