After white opens by moving their queen’s pawn, instead of mirroring the move, black moves their knight. It’s a good defense and minimizes white’s advantage.Īnother counter strategy mentioned in the queen’s gambit show is the indian defense. In this defense instead of black taking white’s pawn they move an adjacent pawn up one to protect their queen’s pawn. One counter strategy is the slav defense. Also black’s pawn is exposed to white’s bishop so if black doesn’t move to protect that pawn they will lose it and white will completely control the center of the board. This is the basic strategy behind the queen’s gambit. Now white controls 2 center squares and black controls 1. White is now down a pawn, but their next move is to promote the king’s pawn.
So if black accepts the gambit and takes white’s pawn. If black takes the piece the gambit is accepted, if not it’s declined. Offering this piece as a sacrifice is why it’s a gambit. This offers black the ability to take that 2nd pawn. So now white has 2 pawns side by side, facing one black pawn. White moves their bishops pawn up next to their queen pawn. Now both side’s pawns are facing each other in the center of the board and it’s white’s move. If black moves a pawn up to the left or right of white’s pawn it can be taken diagonally, so often black’s response is to mirror the move. Since white moves first, black is already at a disadvantage and is fighting to equalize control of the board. When the game begins, white moves the queen pawn up 2 spaces. I’ll post a video of it on the episode webpage. This is considered an aggressive opening because at a high level being down a single pawn is a significant disadvantage. So the opening is called the Queen’s gambit because the first move is made by the pawn directly in front of the queen.Ī gambit is a move in which a player sacrifices a piece, to gain a positional advantage. Either the king’s side or the queen’s side. Pieces in the back row are named for which side they’re on. A pawn in front of the queen is called the queen’s pawn. Pawns are named based on what piece they are in front of. They can’t move backwards and they can only take diagonally which is a different direction than they move. They have the option to move 2 spaces the first time.
They’re also unique compared to the others. In chess, pawns initially seem like weak pieces but they are critical for establishing control over the center of the board. There are dozens more and hundreds of variants. The queen’s gambit is one of many different opening strategies. The opening and defense can sometimes consist of over 20 moves that are choreographed before developing into the mid game. Since black moves 2nd it’s often called a defense. In the opening white moves (or attacks) first which provides a small advantage.
The author’s actual inspiration for the character came mostly from Bobby Fischer. Susan said, “Even today, as of 2020, there is clear sexism in the chess world.” Susan praised the show’s accurate depiction of chess as real and exciting but pointed out that it ignored the prevalent sexism that existed at the time, men would hardly acknowledge defeat by a female. At the time of publication Susan was just 14 years old and Judit was 7 so it’s quite possible the author wasn’t aware of them even though just a year later she became the first female grandmaster. If you’re curious why the queen’s gambit has no mention of the polgar sisters, it’s because the show is based on a fictional book published in 1983. I’ll link it in the sources on the episode page at It’s really interesting and teaches you a ton. If you want to get a better understanding of chess, there’s a youtube channel that breaks down grandmaster games. I actually haven’t played the game since I was a kid, but after all the research for that episode I’ve developed a keen interest in it and have been studying famous games. My name is Lowell Brillante and this is Prodigyīecause of the first episode on the polgar sisters, people often ask me if I’m really into chess.
The first part of this episode will explain what the queen’s gambit opening strategy is, a couple defenses to it, and a person the show frequently references, Paul Morphy.įor the 2nd part I spoke with a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has done some really interesting research on the psychology of gift giving.
#HEDONIC THRESHOLD SERIES#
It quickly became netflix’s most watched series ever and reignited america’s interest in the game, so much so that sales of chess sets have increased up to 10 fold and has seen millions of new users. The first episode of this podcast was about female chess prodigies which happened to coincide with a show on netflix called the queen’s gambit. Since today is Christmas eve I decided to do something a little different. Even though it’s not an ordinary Christmas, I hope you’re all safe and find comfort knowing that we’ll be able to gather with our friends and loved ones very soon.
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