Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Queen’s Gambit, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Talent, Ambition, Dedication, and Success
Discrimination and Belonging
Coming of Age
Addiction
Friendship and Mentorship
Summary
Analysis
On the plane to Mexico City, Mrs. Wheatley explains that when she was in high school, her Spanish class did a pen pal exchange with students in Mexico. She’s kept up her correspondence with her pen pal Manuel, who will be meeting them at the airport. Beth sees that Mrs. Wheatley is very excited, and over the next few days as she gets happier and happier and comes back very late to the hotel room, Beth figures that they are probably having sex, and that this is likely why Mrs. Wheatley wanted to travel to Mexico City several days before the tournament.
This exchange reinforces the role reversal between Beth and Mrs. Wheatley. Beth is at the tournament on business, while Mrs. Wheatley is having fun, traveling, and spending time with Manuel. This provides even further insight as to how Beth has become so adult and independent over the course of her teenage years, because Mrs. Wheatley’s immaturity prompts Beth to be much more responsible and independent.
Themes
The night before the tournament starts, Mrs. Wheatley invites Beth to come out with her and Manuel as she sips a margarita in their hotel room. Beth wants to keep studying, but Mrs. Wheatley tells her that chess isn’t all there is, and that she should enjoy herself more. It’s important to live and grow. Beth gets angry, saying that if she loses to the International Grandmaster she’s playing, they’ll have to pay for the trip out of pocket. Mrs. Wheatley insists that she’s an intuitive player and she needs to relax. Mrs. Wheatley then sips her margarita and says she hasn’t been feeling very well. Beth does note that Mrs. Wheatley is pale, distant, and very clearly overweight.
Mrs. Wheatley’s advice here touches on Beth’s dedication but also her independence. While it’s important to live and grow, as she tells Beth, part of that living and growing is being able to make one’s own choices, as Beth is increasingly getting to do. But at the same time, her suggestion that Beth shouldn’t study because she’s an intuitive player ignores the hard work that Beth has already done to get there, counteracting the idea that she needs discipline to succeed. Lastly, this passage also foreshadows Mrs. Wheatley’s own struggle with addiction as Beth notes her health issues.
Themes
Beth doesn’t go out to lunch with Mrs. Wheatley and Manuel, but she does decide to go to the Mexico City zoo. While there, she drinks an iced beer—her first beer since graduating from high school. She knows she doesn’t need it, but she drinks anyway. She buys two more as she walks and observes the different animals. But then, she sees a family and recognizes the father: Vasily Borgov, the Chess Champion of the World. Beth didn’t know that he would be there, and she is intimidated by his authoritarian scowl. She doesn’t want him to see her drinking and she resolves not to drink anymore during the tournament. Beth goes to bed early but wakes when Mrs. Wheatley returns in the middle of the night. She waits for her mother to stop making noise and quietly fumes.
Here Beth acknowledges that her addiction doesn’t actually help her chess, particularly because she doesn’t want Borgov to see her drinking. And yet, even though she knows she doesn’t need to drink, she does so anyway. This illustrates how drinking has become a compulsion for her—a reflex that she finds natural regardless of whether it’s necessary to help her cope with stress. Additionally, Beth’s first encounter with Borgov sets up Beth’s ongoing perception of him. She associates him with the male chess establishment, and seeing him with his authoritarian scowl cements that impression, because he becomes a symbol of the players who make her feel like an outsider. Meanwhile, the role reversal between Beth and her mother continues.
Themes
The next day, Beth plays Marenco, a player from Portugal. Beth feels irritated and dizzy, but she eases into the match as they follow the maneuvers of the Sicilian defense. By 11:30, she has him down to two pawns, and just after noon he resigns despite being nowhere close to an endgame. Beth wanders over to Board One, where Borgov is playing in front of a silent crowd. Studying the board, Beth sees that Borgov seems to have an edge. She returns to Mrs. Wheatley, offering to get lunch, as she won’t play again until the next day. Mrs. Wheatley feels sick from going to a cabaret the previous evening but agrees to go.
Beth’s match against Marenco again indicates her sheer talent, but also shows how her increased study is helping her. Now familiar with more of the book moves, Beth is able to beat her opponents without even getting into the endgames that she dislikes so much.Additionally, the passage hints at Mrs. Wheatley’s continued health struggles, likely as a result of her consistent drinking on the trip.
Themes
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This competition is more intense and professional than anything Beth has seen before, but she feels calmer the more matches she wins. The next day, she plays the Queen’s Gambit Declined against an Austrian player, and she impresses even herself at her relentless pressure and deadly accuracy, forcing him to resign by the 23rd move.
Beth’s use of the Queen’s Gambit reflects her growing confidence in herself and the benefits of her discipline. In her earlier game with Benny, Beth didn’t feel familiar enough with the opening to win, but now she wields it effectively against this Austrian player.
Themes
That evening, Beth finds Mrs. Wheatley fully clothed in bed at 7 p.m. Beth asks if Mrs. Wheatley wants to get a doctor, but Mrs. Wheatley says she just needs rest. She also admits that Manuel had to leave on business and wouldn’t be back before they left. Beth apologizes, but Mrs. Wheatley says at least he had a sense of humor, and it was fun while it lasted.
This exchange illustrates just how much Beth and her mother have reversed roles: Beth is more responsible and consoling, while at the moment it seems like Mrs. Wheatley is a lovesick young person. This contrast again demonstrates Beth’s growing independence and maturity.
Themes
Beth’s third game is a shock: she is playing against a boy who looks twelve years old. He is very serious, introducing himself as Georgi Petrovitch Girev. He plays a very sophisticated defense, which goes on for hours. She thinks that he is like a machine, unnerving and unperturbed. By the afternoon, most games have finished, while Beth and Girev are on move 34. She has 25 minutes on her clock left, realizing that she is in a bit of a time crunch and has to get to move 40. She’s not used to being behind on the clock.
Girev here becomes a reflection of how much Beth has improved, because Girev is as much of a child prodigy as Beth was. In this match she recognizes that she not only has to be disciplined in order to face much older players, but she also has to maintain that discipline against up-and-coming challengers.
Themes
Beth and Girev quickly exchange several pieces; they are now in an endgame, where the question is one of getting a pawn to the eighth rank and promoting it to a queen. Girev offers to adjourn, as both of their flags have fallen. Beth seals her next move in an envelope before getting up, realizing that there are no more games in progress. Before she leaves, Girev asks her excitedly about drive-in movies in America. She confirms that they exist, and he smiles broadly at her.
Girev’s excited comment about American drive-in movies highlights a disparity between him and Beth. While Girev is still an excitable child, Beth has grown a great deal since her first tournament at the Kentucky State Championship and has in many ways become a professional woman.
Themes
Mrs. Wheatley sleeps soundly through the night and is still sleeping when Beth leaves for the tournament. Her morning game goes quickly: she catches her opponent off-guard in the 19th move, which eventually seals his fate and causes him to resign. He tells her that she plays an awesome game, that she “make[s] a man feel helpless.”
Beth’s opponent’s words here affirm her talent. But highlighting her gender in his comment—saying that she makes men feel helpless—still underscores her abnormality in a tournament filled largely with men.
Themes
Beth plays out the rest of the Girev game that afternoon. She sits there impatiently, often pacing the ballroom as she waits for him to move. She hates his seriousness and his youth. When she hears her clock click, she returns to the board and remains standing. Within 45 minutes, she has him—a matter of trading rooks at the right time, which allows a pawn of hers to be queened. He resigns immediately, and she sees how it devastates him. Beth asks how old Girev was when he started playing. He says four, and he hopes to be World Champion in three years—at 16. She asks him what he’ll do with the rest of his life if he achieves this, but he doesn’t seem to understand the question.
Girev’s talent and ambition rival Beth’s, and again the book makes a connection between Girev and Beth, who was also quite serious at a young age and was also devastated on the rare occasions when she lost matches. But it also shows how Girev has a lot of growing up to do. He was set on a path to become a chess champion at four years old, and he doesn’t seem to imagine a life beyond that. Beth’s question also hints that she’s wondering what to do with her future, too.
Themes
That night, Mrs. Wheatley goes to bed early and seems better the next morning, to Beth’s relief. That day, Beth is playing a man named Solomon. Solomon is by no means easy—the game lasts four hours—but Beth doesn’t let up any advantage and he has to resign. Beth can tell from the way he stalks off that he’s furious about being beaten by a woman.
The book again focuses on the sexism that Beth faces from other players. In this instance, it is clear to Beth that Solomon is furious about being beaten by a supposedly inferior woman.
Themes
Beth examines the bulletin board after her match and sees that the next day she’ll be going up against Borgov. She eats dinner in her room and immediately starts to study Borgov’s games in the chess books she has. Concentrating as hard as she possibly can, she finds no weaknesses. She becomes terrified of how endless chess can be; how she can lose herself in it for hours. She goes to bed after 4 a.m. and dreams of drowning.
Beth recognizes that particularly with Borgov, relying on talent alone will not be enough, and she needs to study his games. Borgov is also a stand-in for the typical male chess player who has enjoyed advantages—like training and support—that Beth’s never had. The dream of drowning suggests that Beth feels in over her head—completely overwhelmed by the prospect of her opponent’s skills and the consuming demands of chess in general.
Themes
Beth awakes tense and jumpy, unable to ease the tension with a shower or coffee. In the hallway before the ballroom, she sees Borgov with several men in dark suits, talking secretively. She slips into the room and sits behind the black pieces, and he joins her shortly afterward. Their match starts, and Beth immediately feels out of her depth, worried about playing into the sequences that he knows the best.
Here Beth stands as an outsider among the men in the hallway. This sense of not belonging is completely discouraging, and it’s one of the big reasons that Beth feels so defeated before she has made any mistakes in her match against Borgov. This shows how sexism can be doubly problematic: not only in disadvantaging Beth, but also in undermining her own confidence, which then puts her at greater risk for losing.
Themes
Beth and Borgov play through some familiar continuations, but this does not relieve her. She feels like her loss is inevitable. But she shakes herself out of this, realizing that the only advantage he has is that he got to move first. Soon, the game enters a wide-open phase, where it can take unexpected turns. Every move seems suspicious, and she starts to take more time with her moves. After trading a few pieces, she realizes that she is in a bad position, in danger of losing a knight. She wonders how she could have missed what he was planning. Everything he’s doing is obvious and unimaginative, and she feels like she could scream. With her knight gone, she knows she’s in even greater danger, and she feels herself reaching out a hand to topple her king. There is applause, and looking at no one, she leaves.
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.
Themes
