Controversy about Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit”: Nona Gaprindashvili, an 80-year-old chess grandmaster, sued in September, claiming that a statement in the show in which a character declares she has “never confronted men” in her career was “grossly sexist and demeaning.”

This chess grandmaster is suing Netflix for a “grossly sexist” line

A Los Angeles judge has determined that a $5 million lawsuit filed by a Georgian former chess world champion against Netflix would proceed after she claimed she was defamed in an episode of “The Queen’s Gambit.” Nona Gaprindashvili, an 80-year-old chess grandmaster, sued in September, claiming that a statement in the show in which a character declares she has “never confronted men” in her career was “grossly sexist and demeaning.” By 1968, the year in which the massively famous limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” is primarily set, Gaprindashvili had battled dozens of male competitors.

Netflix’s lawyers argued that the series is a work of fiction and thus protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. However, federal judge Virginia Phillips denied their motion on Thursday, stating that “the fact that the series was a fictional work does not protect Netflix from defamation liability if all the elements of defamation are already present.” 

“The Queen’s Gambit,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, is based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel and depicts the story of a young orphan who grows up to become the world’s best chess player. While Beth Harmon is a fictional character, the series includes some real-life chess players, including Gaprindashvili. In 1978, Gaprindashvili became the first woman to be named Grandmaster by the International Chess Federation.