The Queen's Gambit is a 7 episode Netflix miniseries about a female chess prodigy in the 1950's and 60's.
The story chronicles the life of the fictitious character, Elizabeth Harmon (Anja Taylor-Joy) from the time she learns the game as an orphan clear up to the point where she defeats Russian Grand Master, Vasily Borgov (Marcin Dorociński) to become the world champion.
Female grandmasters are a rarity, so I was afraid the series was going to morph into an anti-male screed. (It easily could have)
It didn't
Nearly every male character in the series, from the gruff but kindly William Shaibel, the custodian at the orphanage who taught her the basics of the game and fronted her the money for her first tournament to Vasily Borgov himself is gracious and clearly delighted to play against a woman so talented in a sport dominated by men.
Two notable exceptions were her POS adopted father who didn't care about her or his wife and a Russian player who got a little salty when she kicked his butt in 21 moves. But every story needs antagonists...
One of the high points for me was when Elizabeth returned to the orphanage after Shaibel's death and saw the cork board where he had meticulously documented her career. Clearly he was as proud of her as if she had actually been his daughter.
One of the only criticisms of the series I've heard that had any merit as far as I'm concerned is that everybody is way too attractive for the roles they're playing, but that really doesn't detract from the story and comes across as petty.
Anja Taylor-Joy won a Golden Globe for her performance and it was well deserved IMO.
Two thumbs up from me