The first female chess grandmaster, Nona Gaprindashvili, sued Netflix for millions of dollars in damages on Thursday for a line in The Queen’s Gambit that she claims was untrue and sexist.
The lawsuit filed in federal district court in Los Angeles refers to a scene in the final episode of the series, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a fictional American chess prodigy in the Soviet era named Beth Harmon, in which a commentator at a Moscow tournament said she was a female world champion who “has never faced men.” Gaprindashvili, now 80, took the assertion as a personal affront.
“The allegation that Gaprindashvili ‘has never faced men’ is manifestly false, as well as being grossly sexist and belittling,” Gaprindashvili’s 25-page complaint says. “By 1968, the year in which this episode is set, she had competed against at least 59 male chess players (28 of them simultaneously in one game), including at least ten Grandmasters of that time, including Dragolyub Velimirovich, Svetozar Gligoric, Paul Keres, Bojan Kurajica, Boris Spassky, Viswanathan Anand and Mikhail Tal. The last three were also world champions during their careers.”
Netflix signaled it would face the lawsuit, which seeks $5 million and the removal of the line from the series, in court.
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT IS BRILLIANT
“Netflix has only the utmost respect for Ms. Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career,” Netflix told the New York Times. “But we believe this claim has no merit and will vigorously defend the case.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Gaprindashvili, who was born in Georgia, made history in 1978 as the first woman to be given the title of grandmaster by the World Chess Federation.
“In a story that was supposed to inspire women by showing a young woman competing with men at the highest levels of world chess, Netflix humiliated the one real woman trail blazer who had actually faced and defeated men on the world stage in the same era,” her lawsuit said.
