Beth’s match against Borgov illustrates two key conflicts in Beth’s character arc. First, it demonstrates that Beth, up to this point, has not been as disciplined and rigorous as she could have been about her studying. In noting that everything Borgov is doing was “unimaginative,” it suggests that Beth simply hasn’t spent enough time learning all the different strategies a person might employ to get out of this kind of obvious play. But it also shows how the lack of confidence—brought on by her sense of not belonging to the chess world the way Borgov does—has also undermined her gameplay. In essence, feeling that her loss was “inevitable”, has made it so.