“The Queen’s Gambit” broke all sorts of viewership records on Netflix. An unlikely hit because it is about chess.
The limited TV series focuses on a misfit of a girl who encounters a janitor one day in a boarding school basement and discovers the game of chess. The young actress at the heart of the movie, Anya Taylor-Joy, is mesmerizing. The TV series is such a sensation that millions of people who have never played chess before are apparently playing the game online.
It’s like Bobby Fischer all over again, only Fischer was a real chess champion whose life was stranger than fiction.
I mention all of this because I count myself as one of the world’s worst gift givers. So, this year, facing the dilemma of what to get with time running out, I saw an advertisement on Facebook for chess.
“That’s it,” I thought. “I will buy people chess games.”
A minute later another thought crossed my brain. “You are such a nerd!”
Not just a nerd, but one that is out of touch with the times. There are hundreds of chess apps available online that not only allow people to play games against each other in real time across the globe, but also include advice from experts on how to play.
But I chose to buy games with pieces people could actually touch.
Let me say this in defense of chess as a gift idea: It improves the math and reading skills of children and has been known to stave off dementia in older folks.
Of course, there are studies that demonstrate it really has little impact on IQ, but in keeping with the politics of the day I choose to ignore those.
The game is said to have originated in India, sometime before the 6th century. When the Arabs conquered Persia, Muslims began playing chess. Chess is the national pastime of Russia. People across the world now play the game.
A Norwegian named Sven Magnus Carlsen is the world champion.
It was once said women didn’t have the intellect to play the game. Well, we all know that isn’t true, especially those of us who saw “The Queen’s Gambit.” Inspired by the fictional Netflix series, I thought perhaps by purchasing chess games as Christmas gifts, one of my friends’ children would go on to chess-playing superstardom.
“It was an old family friend that bought me my first game,” she would tell the world press. “That’s the reason I am brilliant, famous and crazy.”
Hey, you can’t have everything.
Anyway, I went online to buy a bunch of chess sets and discovered the games are so popular the game makers can’t keep up with demand. Some sites, including the one I chose, said they probably wouldn’t be able to deliver the chess sets in time for Christmas.
“Not so terrible,” I thought. By the time my gifts arrive the kids will be tired of their new puppies, crashed their drones and misplaced their PlayStation 5 consoles. “There’s nothing at all to do,” they will whine.
Those 8-, 9- and 10-year olds will jump for joy when their chess sets arrive and then, with sweet smiles beg their parents to help them learn the game.
It will bring families together for hours and hours of intellectual stimulation, replacing the need to watch sports on TV. Just kidding. I watch the Bears and White Sox and still find time to play chess. I’m a guy. Hand me a beer.
I confess a hidden reason for giving this gift. I sort of hope that after this COVID-19 threat is gone I will stop by a friend’s home one day and hear someone say, “Hey, would you like to have a game of chess?”
We will sit down at a table and play and talk for hours. Wouldn’t that be grand?
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