“The Queen’s Gambit” TV miniseries has ranked pretty consistently in Netflix’s Top 10 since its release in late October, and rightfully so. The show follows Elizabeth Harmon, an orphaned child chess prodigy whose journey to international stardom and struggle with addiction play out through beautifully-lit shots, lavish hotel settings and the perfect amount of chess-talk to put you in awe of Beth’s command of the game but not leave you feeling stupid.
Join Ted Kluck, Naomi Mengel and Caroline Hinrichs as they rate Beth’s hotel rooms, outfits and chess opponents.
Hotel Rooms in “The Queen’s Gambit“
By Ted Kluck
“Gambit” has exquisite storytelling, but the thing that was perhaps most jarring to me was the lushness of the mid-century hotel rooms. So rather than examine the complex interpersonal dynamics (they’re great), the main character Elizabeth Harmon (she’s compelling), the drug use (depressing, but not Noah-Baumbach-depressing) or the chess itself (strangely erotic), I have ranked the hotel rooms in order of lushness, from least to most:
(Note: not all of these are hotel rooms, per se.)
The Methuen School for Girls
All orphanages – even those in Kentucky – apparently have to be very gothic and creepy.
Wallpaper: N/A Peeling paint.
Lobby: ☆ Sterile and institutional, yet full of the drugs that would eventually enslave Beth Harmon.
New York (Benny’s Apartment)
I mean look, the apartment was in a basement and was pretty bare-bones (see: shower in, apparently, the living room and the requisite broken, jagged mirror in the bathroom). Still, there was a gritty, chess-ascetic-meets-IKEA quality to this space, which featured one world-class chair and lots of lounging-on-the-floor scenarios. Also perhaps the greatest air-mattress-on-the-floor sequence in entertainment history.
But what do we expect from a guy who wears a cowboy hat un-ironically, unbuttons his shirt to his navel and carries a knife for no reason?
Wallpaper: N/A
Lobby: N/A but probably a dark alley.
Moscow
I used to live in the former Soviet Union (Ukraine, Lithuania) so I feel as though I’m something of a student of cold, Soviet hotel rooms, though I can readily admit that I never stayed in one this nice. The geometric pattern wallpaper matched the bedspread, the ceilings were almost ridiculously high (like, shoot-a-basketball high), and although there were slate grays and dark tones throughout, there was almost a feeling of warmth to the décor. This warmth, however, was offset by the certainty that there were listening devices in her room and almost everything she did on the Moscow trip was being surveilled. Also unsettling was the fact that Beth wasn’t allowed to answer her door or really leave the room for any reason. Richly appointed mid-century swank or de facto prison cell? Hard to say.
Wallpaper: ☆☆☆☆☆
Lobby: Off-limits to Beth Harmon, but apparently full of flashbulb-popping international chess-media at all hours of the day and night.
Las Vegas
I want to go to Las Vegas in 1968 and hang with Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Unfortunately, I went to Las Vegas in the early 2000s to cover the Oscar De La Hoya/Sugar Shane Mosely fight and found it to be perhaps the most despairing place on earth. I expected tuxedos and class, but instead there were lots of people on portable oxygen and a patina of grossness over the whole city.
Beth Harmon went there for a chess tournament and stayed in what was without a doubt the greatest-looking American hotel room in the miniseries. One word: Wallpaper. Also, a great little dividing wall, which seemed like a strange design flex, but a great one. This is where she reunited with Townes, who was handsome and mysterious, and who apparently made a small fortune writing niche chess articles for a Kentucky newspaper in what had to be the gilded age of journalism.
Townes had an incredible hotel room with a full bar and a chess set on the bed, where he engaged in a flirty chess game/photoshoot with Beth Harmon which proved to be very misleading and confusing for her. Still, not even a confusing chess game with a probably-gay, rich chess journalist could dampen the grandeur of those hotel rooms. Also, what a pool.
Wallpaper: ☆☆☆☆☆ Some of the best in the entire series.
Lobby: ☆☆☆☆☆☆ Every chair and sofa is the single swankiest chair or sofa you’ve ever seen.
Paris
It’s hard to beat a five-star hotel room in Paris with lots of shades of blue, an incredible bathtub and a huge bed, complete with the requisite huge Parisian windows. The best thing about any Parisian hotel room is that it’s in Paris. Did Beth Harmon, by drinking in the hotel bar and then later her room, miss everything that Paris had to offer from a food and sightseeing standpoint? Absolutely. Did Beth Harmon go on a huge bender in this room and then blow her first match with the machine-like Borgov? She did. Is this when “The Queen’s Gambit” turned into a sports movie? Absolutely.
A word about lobbies: apparently all of these chess tournaments took place in the lobbies of these hotels, which seems odd, except that they all had these amazing scoreboard-type things which would display the chess moves in real time and around which all manner of model-quality hot people would stand and gawk and gasp and stuff.
Wallpaper: ☆☆☆☆☆☆ Big, blue, different, better.
Lobby: ☆☆☆☆☆
Mexico City
It’s weird. I’ve never had a deep desire to go to Mexico City and, in fact, still don’t have that desire. However, this was the greatest hotel room in “The Queen’s Gambit,” which is saying something. There was a weird, like, wall, in the room which provided a nice bit of a divide between the bedroom and the living area – kind of like the Vegas wall but more significant. The room was wallpapered to high-heaven in deep red and orange tones, which you wouldn’t think would work but totally did. There was a great vintage phone situation in this room, as in all the rooms in the series.
But what made Mexico City really special was the presence of a.) a balcony, b.) an unbelievable pool where Beth swam with the weird twins, c.) a concierge who would do literally anything for the guests and d.) a really nice piano for Beth’s mom to play in the lobby, which provided maybe the greatest moment of the whole series, when Beth’s mom got to (finally) perform and be the center of attention. It was the moment when you realized that “Gambit” was as much about the mom character as it was about Beth Harmon.
Wallpaper: ☆☆☆☆☆☆
Lobby: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Extra credit for the piano.
An Ode to Trenchcoats: Beth Harmon’s Outfits in “The Queen’s Gambit”
By Naomi Mengel
Because a quick Google search yields several previously existing rankings/ratings of Beth Harmon’s fabulous outfits from “The Queen’s Gambit,” I’ll approach this important topic from the slightly different angle of how much I personally want to wear some of her most memorable style moments. This is far from an exhaustive list, as Beth’s developing style throughout the series blesses us with a multitude of looks ranging from fashionably understated to absolutely iconic and causes me to stare at my own packed-full, somewhat garish closet with regret for being born in an age when 60s mainstays do not feature prominently in everyday outfits. (At least headscarves are making a comeback. I vote we bring back chunky matching belts next.)
The Orphanage Fit
Okay, so the short bangs occupied my attention way more than Beth’s actual outfits in the first few episodes (who let her get that haircut?). During her time at the Methuen School for Girls and until she has her initial successes, she wears a few variations on the dark, plainly-patterned uniform dress and collared shirt.
Aside from being the clothes Beth wears during an especially dark and lonely period of her life, this outfit reminds me a little too much of the jumper and Peter Pan-collared shirts I wore throughout elementary school for me to be comfortable wearing something so similar now. I do like the concept of layering a shirt and dress, but this particular look is too quintessentially schoolgirl for me to be into wearing it now.
Rating: ☆☆ At least it’s practical.
Checkerboards Galore
To be honest, I didn’t even notice how much Beth wears checkered patterns as a callback to chess until my roommate pointed it out to me. But once you notice it, there’s no going back. I’m currently wishing I had six and a half hours to watch the entire series again and count how many times she dons a checkered blouse, gingham swimsuit or the dark checkered dress she pairs with two different blouses.
From these chess-inspired outfits, the dark checkered dress is the one I’d most like to wear. Under this sleeveless, low V-necked number, Beth adds a silky white wing-collared blouse. The A-line style dress and roll-able blouse sleeves make a utilitarian yet chic combination that I’d most love to wear while strolling dramatically down New York City streets under a cloudy sky, pencil and notebook in hand, off to another day tracking down a story.
Rating: ☆☆☆ Practical styling and colors but it just feels a little less exciting to wear than some of these other looks.
Classic Navy
For a cover photoshoot following her initial tournament success, Beth wears a short-sleeved navy blue dress with a white Peter Pan collar. This outfit marks a kind of transition point between her dark, boxy orphanage clothes and her developing sense of cutting-edge style. The A-line dress is youthful and a bit plain but classic all the same. The conservative length of the sleeves and skirt also makes this a solid choice for a professional looking to introduce some old-fashioned charm into her everyday look. Who knows, maybe that’ll be me.
Rating: ☆☆☆ I happen to love navy blue.
Lovely Yellows
Ah, to be Anya Taylor-Joy with auburn hair, consistently able to pull off this beautifully tricky color. Beth wears yellow a few times in the show, but my favorite sunny look is a low flat-collared cream button-down tucked into a textured yellow box-pleated skirt with just a bit of flair. It’s fun, feminine and looks effortless, but it also has enough structure to appear professional. This is also a very versatile look, suitable for both reclining on a picnic blanket at a park by the river and lecturing in a classroom with the windows open on a warm spring day.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Light and airy yet no-nonsense. An excellent combination.
Trench Coat and Turtleneck
What is it about women’s trench coats that exudes such an aura of simultaneous power and femininity? If only I could find a good-quality one to purchase at a price reasonable for a college student, I’d be unstoppable. Catch me sauntering to class with some sunglasses, a gold-buckled black purse and that bad boy.
This is, in my opinion, Beth’s best ‘fit. The cozy yet sleek cream turtleneck, classy wide-legged pants and of course the belted trench coat come together in a mature, understated look that’s still striking. Sherlock Holmes, but make him a female chess genius.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆☆ Where can I buy this whole look and for how much?
The Finale Fit
Without giving too many spoilers, Beth’s fluffy white coat and matching giant beanie in the final episode seem to mirror her character development and elevate even further the luminescence of the series’ closing shots. (Also, fun fact: The show’s costume designer created this outfit to be reminiscent of the white queen chess piece! (It constantly amazes me how much thought and care were put into each aspect of this show.)
Though this outfit is very beautiful and symbolic, I don’t think it’d be incredibly practical for me. White pants in particular would be an issue—one plate of spaghetti or some chicken nuggets with Chick-fil-A’s Polynesian sauce and I’d have to throw the whole thing away. It might be worth it for a few hours of touring Russia and the dramatic Insta pics, though.
Rating: ☆☆☆ Lovely but impractical. I enjoy Polynesian sauce too much.
The Chess Boys: A Completely Arbitrary and Totally Definitive Ranking
By Caroline Hinrichs
While Kluck and Naomi have addressed the more scenic elements of “The Queen’s Gambit,” I believe it imperative to discuss the relative merits of Beth’s primary chess opponents. I have compiled a ranking based on completely objective and entirely logical reasoning that will provide a conclusive examination of each character and assure you that I do, in fact, know nothing about chess.
8. Toxic Men That Underestimate Her
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Next.
7. Vasily Borgov
Borgov is probably the closest we get to an antagonist in this series, but he still has big dad energy. He’s not a sore loser (see: above), and Beth’s moment with him in the last episode is *chef’s kiss*, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious most of the time he was onscreen since the music would inevitably speed up and cut to Beth’s calculating eyes. Maybe if he wasn’t so naturally ominous-looking, I might be tempted to put him higher on the list. But as of right now, he’s sticking toward the bottom.
6. Benny Watts
I like Benny, I really do. But something about him—the cowboy hat? the middle school boy mustache?—just rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it speaks to the strength of his character in the show that when he made Beth angry, I felt like slapping his grown-but-also-baby-looking face. Benny may have the most screen time out of all the players on this list, but all the boys near the top (including the actual child) have him beat in terms of non-babyish features.
5. Harry Beltik
Dudley Dursley looks a little different here, but I’m not complaining. Harry’s arc in this series basically consists of him starting as a gross, kind of sexist jerk then chugging some Respect Women juice and getting his crooked teeth fixed. Oh yeah, he also happens to teach Beth vital lessons about friendships, romantic relationships and the underlying motivation behind her obsession with chess, but that’s beside the point. I wish I could put him higher on the list, but there are still a few more guys who drink Respect Women juice that I have to get to before this article is done.
4. Giorgi Giev
Giorgi’s six minutes of screen time are certainly a highlight of the series. How could anyone not love that little 13-year-old teddy bear face who also happens to be a strategic mastermind? He’s so earnest and fascinated by American drive-in theaters and Elvis Presley movies, I think the show could’ve really benefited by including an MCU-like end credits sequence of Giorgi just sipping soda and munching on some popcorn at a drive-in. I need some closure on this plot point.
3. D.L. Townes
Their first chess match is only one of many that Beth plays in her first tournament, but Townes definitely left a lasting impact on me … oh, I mean, Beth. That scene is the one that got me inescapably hooked on the show, not just because of the ~intense~ “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) hand flex vibes I get from the longing gazes but because of the best pick-up line ever featured in cinema: “You wanna start my clock?”
2. Mr. Shaibel
He may be a janitor, but Mr. Shaibel is the true king of this chess series. And deep down beyond that prickly exterior, he’s just a big ‘ol softie. There’s no one I’d trust more to watch my stuff in a crowded coffee shop when I need to use the restroom. Or, I don’t know, jumpstart my career as a chess prodigy.
1. Luchenko
This man probably only had five minutes of screen time in the show, and he still managed to make me cry. The hair itself already propels him near the top of the list (that poof though!), but his sweet old college history professor vibes are what really put him over the top. I just know I could listen to him lecture about the history of chess for hours on end. To put the cherry on top, he’s also the kind of guy who would point out that you got Bingo at the SAC event when you weren’t paying attention, even if the prize is a $100 Chick Fil-A gift card and he only needs one more number. In conclusion: the hair, the vibes, the chivalry, they all come together to make one heck of a dude.
