Reading "The Queen's Gambit"

 I haven't watched the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, but (prompted by a review in Private Eye) I've just read Walter Tevis's 1983 novel on which it is based.  (I'm a reader rather than a viewer by inclination.)  It's an interesting book, which I thought well worth reading.

Now, I know I am missing the point, but there were a couple of things I found irritating.  first of all I found the accounts of the chess unconvincing.  I haven't played seriously for many years, and the author was undoubtedly a more serious chess player than I ever was, but the games he describes don't seem plausible to me - the heroine wins too much material too quickly.  I am probably wrong, because the author took expert advice on the chess positions.  I'd be interested to know whether better chess players than me felt the same, or am I out of touch?

Of course, the bit that really annoyed me was the description of a tournament that just didn't add up.  After four rounds three players are in the lead with 4 out of 4: Beth wins her fifth one while the other two with 100% play each other.  In the last round she loses to the winner of that match, and only finishes sixth after two other players on 5/5 agree a quick draw in the last round.  This just doesn't work!

The chess novel which I loved as a teenager (and still do) was Anthony Glyn's The Dragon Variation, and the games in that book seemed authentic.  The descriptions of Beth Harmon's games in The Queen's Gambit didn't work for me.

So if you are looking for an entertaining novel about chess, I still recommend The Dragon Variation.