The Queen’s Gambit: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Before Beth’s first game at the U.S. Championship, Beth immediately runs into Benny Watts. He offers his condolences on the game with Borgov, and she admits she felt like a fool. He sympathizes with her, recognizing how helpless losing can feel. She’s surprised at his honesty; not many chess players talk about humiliation and weakness. The director announces that play will begin in five minutes, and they nod to each other.

There are fourteen players in the tournament, and Beth is the only woman. They are the highest-ranked players in the country, but it has the feeling of a high school tournament. Beth wins her first game handily, using a move that she had gone over with Beltik. She is the first one to win her game, and she is intent on becoming the U.S. Champion.

Beth’s games over the next few days are grueling, but she is never in danger of losing. As time goes on, other players look at her with more and more respect. Benny is doing just as well, and she studies his games between her own matches. The tournament is round-robin style, and she will meet Benny in the 11th game.

The tournament takes place over two weeks with one game a day; on a day off, Beth walks to the university’s student union for coffee and finds Benny with two other players and a board. He asks her to look at the position and make a move. When she moves the knight, Benny agrees with her move, showing the other players what she’s done. Beth feels good, knowing that he trusts her judgment.

Benny offers to play Beth in speed chess, offering $5 a game. She agrees, and he beats her in only three minutes on his clock. He moves incredibly fast, playing brilliantly. He continues to offer her more games. She has 60 dollars in her pocket and continues to play; by noon there are 40 people watching. It is thrilling and frustrating chess, and though Beth wins some games, she has never been beaten so consistently. Benny seems to have a resource beyond her understanding. At 5:30 p.m., Beth gives him her last five dollars. People applaud and Benny shakes her hand, but she wants to hit him.

That night, Beth stays in her room and takes four tranquilizers. She feels rested in the morning, but stupid. She gets anxious, thinking about playing Benny on Thursday, but she assures herself that he is not unbeatable. She handily beats another opponent in the afternoon, and that evening Benny joins her as she is eating dinner. He apologizes for the previous day, explaining that he just wanted to play against someone good. He assures her that he plays a lot of speed chess. When she reminds him that he beat her in Las Vegas, he says that that was a long time ago and he couldn’t get away with the same strategy. Before he leaves, she asks if he plays games in his head when he's alone. He replies, “Doesn’t everybody?”

Back at her room, Beth misses Mrs. Wheatley—this is her first tournament without her mother. She also appreciates Benny for reassuring her, and she thinks that he has good-looking hair. She wins Tuesday and Wednesday’s games, and she prepares herself for her match against Benny. She wants to drink, but instead she resorts to taking pills so that she can sleep.

When Beth sits down at her board, she realizes, looking at the gathered crowd, that she and Benny are the best players in America. Even though he’s only 24, he looks older, and as they start their game, she feels as she did playing Borgov: that she’s like a child trying to outsmart an adult. This isn’t true: she knows in her heart that she played many professionals in Mexico City before wilting against Borgov. Still, she feels inexperienced.

In the middle game, Benny makes an unusual move. At first, Beth wonders what he might be up to, but she realizes quickly that there’s nothing sinister in the move—he might just be trying to get a quick advantage, like speed chess. She counters his move and immediately puts him on the defensive. Just a few minutes ago she felt like an amateur, and now Benny’s in trouble.

Beth then makes an unexpected move: trading her queen early in the game for his. This catches Benny off guard and puts him on defense. She feels naked without her queen, but she also feels strong, having the initiative. She makes a simple but unobvious move with her pawn, and when the director makes the move on the display board, the spectators are surprised. She starts to relax: she is going to beat him soundly. She finds a continuation that is a “beautiful and subtle wonder,” as if the sequence is projected on a screen in front of her. It becomes clear that she is going to queen a pawn before him, and Benny topples his king. Beth won in 30 moves. As they leave to applause, Benny says he never thought she would trade queens, and she didn’t think she would either.