A Chess Reading List for Watching ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. women’s chess champion, tells Vanity Fair how accurate the series is in terms of women in the sport, addiction, and rock star prodigies.

The Netflix show is one of the best screen adaptations of the game yet. But there are a few wrong moves.

By the end of the show, you might actually find yourself wanting to watch more chess.

Walter Tevis, the author of the book upon which the Netflix hit is based, spent his life gambling and drinking in pool halls before turning to chess. But once you know his story, it’s stunning that the book ever came out at all.

“Beth learned of her mother's death from a woman with a clipboard. The next day her picture appeared in the Herald-Leader.”

You don’t have to be a polymath like Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit to improve your game.

Trace the storied history of the game of chess, from its origins in 7th century India to the computer software we use today.

What I learned trying to keep up with my 4-year-old daughter at the royal game.

The challenge of chess—learning how to hold complexity in mind and still make good decisions—is also the challenge of life.

Netflix's hit series The Queen's Gambit confirms it: A game as old as time can help you strategize for basically anything.

You don't have to be a genius to play chess, but it helps. The former Sunday Telegraph editor and chess aficionado, Dominic Lawson, chooses the best books on chess.

“Deep Blue was only intelligent the way your programmable alarm clock is intelligent. Not that losing to a $10 million alarm clock made me feel any better.”

Hikaru Nakamura is the top-ranked blitz chess player in the world—and his channel has seen a meteoric rise as he coaches streamers in the ancient game.

Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player alive, has been slipping into online speed tournaments behind pseudonyms to crack jokes, let loose, and destroy the competition.

For over two decades, Lev Alburt has been teaching strategy, patience, and prognostication to the finest in finance.

Tani Adewumi, 9, fled Nigeria with his family and later settled into a New York homeless shelter. Today he dreams of becoming the world's youngest chess grandmaster.

In the days following the 2016 election, a large group of Russians gathered in New York to watch one of their own wage war in miniature.

The supremely old-school game of chess is dealing with a very avant-garde brand of unsportsmanlike conduct

Paranoia, hubris, and hatred—the unraveling of the greatest chess player ever.

The game has inspired great works of literature, film, and arguably every creative move made by Marcel Duchamp. So why not a musical?