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Local chess enthusiasts including Kentuckys only chess grandmaster react to the successful chess-oriented Netflix series The Queens Gambit

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When the miniseries The Queens Gambit hit Netflix last year, it served as a bright and welcome distraction during a time when many were feeling bleak and stir-crazy. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by late Kentucky author Walter Tevis, the show captivated its record-setting 62-million-household audience with its complicated and compelling heroine, its smart and witty writing, and its striking visual design. Centering on the journey of a troubled orphan chess prodigy, both the show and the novel have been lauded for their success in creating an intriguing and relatable storyline around a game that is often seen at least, to those not on the board as relatively slow and tedious.

For viewers in Lexington, that captivation was elevated by the fact that much of the story takes place in our city. Regular references to the Lexington Herald-Leader and to local waypoints such as New Circle Road, Henry Clay High School and Ben Snyder department store an actual Lexington shop that existed on Main Street for many years added layers of delight and novelty for local audiences.

Its safe to say Gregory Kaidanov, an accomplished professional chess player living in Lexington, felt an even deeper kinship with the show than most. Born in Ukraine in 1959 and raised in the Soviet town of Kaliningrad, Kaidanov moved to Lexington in 1991 to further his career as a competitive chess player. Outside the underpinnings of the oppressive Soviet regime, Kaidanov said, the opportunities that opened up when he moved to Kentucky were immense. At the time he moved here, he was ranked as one of the top 200 players in the world; within his first year living in America, he moved up in rank to 16th player in the world. In 1992, he claims to have had the most successful year any chess player had in America. And in 1993, he joined the U.S. Chess National Team, with the team winning the World Team Chess Championship that year for the first time in history a feat that helped fast-track his U.S. citizenship. Today, Kaidanov, who earns the majority of his income by teaching chess lessons (primarily online), enjoys the status of being Kentuckys only chess grandmaster, the highest ranking a competitive chess player can attain aside from world champion.

It was inspirational and exhilarating, Kaidanov said, looking back at that time in his career.

When he and his wife sat down to watch The Queens Gambit last year, after seeing lots of buzz about the show on Facebook, Kaidanov found many correlations between lead character Beth Harmons life and his own. Like Harmon, he fell into a passion for chess I would even use the word obsession, he said as a child and spent much of his early adulthood traveling domestically and internationally for tournaments. He also related with the storylines central focus on both Russia and Kentucky, and could identify with the series depictions of both the pressures and the satisfactions of competing in the game at such a high level.

Overall, Kaidanov describes watching the show as a very emotional experience that led him to relive many of his childhood memories.

I couldnt watch more than one episode at a time, because of the emotional connection, he said. There have been many movies made about chess, but this was by far the best, at all levels.

Fellow Lexington chess enthusiast Jerry Baker, organizer of weekly meetings and monthly tournaments for Lexingtons Bluegrass Chess Club for more than 30 years, agreed that The Queens Gambit was an incredible show, even for people who do not understand chess.

Being an avid chess player, though, that series goes to the next level, he said. More than once during the show, I got out of my seat to cheer.

While the recent popularity of The Queens Gambit led to a massive uptick in interest in chess across the world, its unfortunate, Baker said, that the shows release coincided with what he called the worst time in history for the game, due to the limitations on in-person play caused by the pandemic. In many ways, online chess playing has been a boon for competitive players over the past several decades, in that it has opened up opportunities to play against high-level players from across the world one of the most effective methods for improving your game. But despite the continuation of online chess games throughout the pandemic, Baker said the overall effect of halting in-person games has been detrimental to the game especially for beginners.

Chess is hard, and the difference between a beginner and a tournament player is massive, he explained. In-person, at our club, we could give every beginner a mini-lesson after every game we could explain the differences between beginner and experienced players.

Being a one-on-one battle, its easy for players to take defeat personally, especially when they are first starting out, he continued. During in-person games and tournaments, mentors can often help temper this defeat by letting new players know even the best players were in their shoes at one time and are only better now for having persisted and continuing to learn new tricks.

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