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I enjoyed this, although as a weirdo nerd who actually likes chess and played a ton of it as a kid, I was really put off by how much they avoid the chess matches most of the time. Show me some loving chess moves! I want to see her be brilliant at chess I don't just want you to tell me about it over and over! Also the first couple episodes, the male characters that she beats at chess are such weird caricatures that it was awkward. I get that the time period is really oppressive and I even enjoyed that part of the story once things got going, but in the beginning it just felt really contrived and forced, nothing could be remotely subtle. Oh my biggest pet peeve was the hallucinations of chess on the ceiling. It just really felt like the creators were terrified that chess would be too boring so they had to juice it up a lot. The mother was great, as were a few of the guys, the Russian, and obviously the lead herself was mostly amazing. Withnail posted:I watched it. But Searching for Bobby Fischer is a better chess movie. Now that is a chess movie.
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Dec 5, 2020 08:40
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 01:52 |
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Zwabu posted:Yeah considering that they went through the trouble to get Kasparov and Pandolfini (former World Champ and a grandmaster) to be chess consultants and Kasparov actually picked and made up real games, it would have been nice if they actually, you know, showed the board for at least a tiny bit here and there. Instead of "she's crushing these guys, take our word for it" The chess match in Mexico I swear they deliberately placed the camera so that you can see the players but not the board. You just see their arms moving. Its like they were afraid of showing the chess board and didn't want to put the effort in to make sure the boards weren't stupid, and yet with most of these matches being historic record you could pretty trivially just replay the moves exactly, or as you said they have chess consultants who are exceptionally capable and could have invented new games if needed. I guess there's also some pacing issues, they want to focus on the character story so can only spend so much time on the chess matches. But still, show me more of the board positions that actually matter. The show seems to assume you won't even try to follow it so they don't let you.
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Dec 5, 2020 09:36
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I think the mom was handled really well, they did almost tease it like she was going to end up using Beth to make money and support her drinking, and that could have turned out really abusive. But then there was that moment where she asks Beth "Can I have 10% as a commission?!" and its just so sweet, and you realize she's not going to take advantage of her after all. Probably helps that it was based on a true story, so they had some real-life inspiration and didn't go the fully cliched hollywood tropes route.
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Dec 8, 2020 18:10
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OldSenileGuy posted:The show is adapted from a novel published in the 80s. It’s not based on a true story. Oh. Lame. Well, 80s writing then, less hollywood cliches than today still.
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Dec 8, 2020 18:30
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I was surprised she asked Mr Shaibel for the money and not the high school chess teacher guy. You'd think he'd be more likely to recognize how good her chances were to win, and would have possibly more money. But I guess its better for the story this way.
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Dec 9, 2020 23:02
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Philthy posted:I got laid in the past few days and my wife recommended this to me by word of mouth so I binged it while recovering. Did you miss the word "off" here? Because lmao
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Dec 23, 2020 23:20
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Zwabu posted:Okay I suppose I'm talking more about her not researching the Russian champ when she was the one who had the ambition to play him or become one of the top players, and Benny having to tell her about him. Even if you don't know you're going to play a match against that guy you'd research his games to learn from them. The current world champ will generally represent the strongest play that has been exhibited yet since their play builds upon knowledge gained from previous players, so their games are an essential resource to learn about the strongest ways to play in the present. I agree its a bit contrived, but they're going for the whole "she's an intuitive player! She doesn't need to study!!" thing, like her mom was telling her in Mexico. And a big part of her character development is that she's generally blasted through all her opponents so she doesn't really take most of them all that seriously. She's that "lazy genius" trope. Its not until the very end that she actually considers the Russians to be such a huge threat that she'll likely lose and also that she cares enough that its something she really wants. At which point she does study. I do find it funny that they have all the guys of her life come together for a cute scene where they make a phone call to her, explaining all the possible openings they've run through and the ideal responses, and she notes them all down. Then we get to the chess match and oops, he goes off-script. Which means its all on her and she wins without the boys. But I feel bad for them spending hours running all those games and paying who knows how much money for the long distance call and its all completely for naught lmao.
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Dec 24, 2020 21:22
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 01:52 |
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Philthy posted:I played my first ever chess game against a computer. The first 30 moves I wiped the floor, then the next 34 moves were chasing the stupid king around the board and I threw poo poo all over the room. F chess. If it took you that long to chase him then your pieces got wiped just as much as you wiped your enemy. At that point call a draw and play another game 
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Dec 27, 2020 03:37
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