The Queen’s Gambit

by

Walter Tevis

Benny Watts Character Analysis

Benny Watts is a high-ranked chess player whom Beth befriends. Benny was a child prodigy at eight years old, competing in prominent international tournaments. When Beth first meets Benny at the U.S. Open, he is in his 20s while Beth is 16. He talks to her about her games, points out errors in her play, and he then quickly beats her—one of her first real losses. Years later, after Beth’s tournament in Mexico City, she plays Benny again in the U.S. Championship after having studied for weeks with Harry Beltik and beats him. He then offers to host her at his apartment in New York City, where he helps her study for upcoming tournaments in Paris and Moscow so that she can beat Vasily Borgov. Benny also tries to help Beth clear her mind, knowing how devastating her alcohol and drug use can be for her chess game. Gradually, Beth and Benny develop a sexual relationship as well, though she often feels that he is distant and wishes that they had greater intimacy. When Beth starts to realize that Benny has little left to teach her, she pushes him away—particularly after she still loses to Borgov in Paris despite her studying. Then, later, she backs out of an offer from a Christian group that would pay for her and Benny to go to a tournament in Moscow together, leaving him furious and unable to go. Ultimately, however, Benny’s friendship proves crucial to Beth. After her final game with Borgov in Moscow is adjourned overnight, Benny calls her from the States. He has gathered other players to help her think through potential strategies for the second part of her game. Even though Beth is a better player than Benny, his support still proves crucial to helping her beat Borgov.

Benny Watts Quotes in The Queen’s Gambit

The The Queen’s Gambit quotes below are all either spoken by Benny Watts or refer to Benny Watts. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Talent, Ambition, Dedication, and Success Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

The horrible feeling, at the bottom of the anger and fear, was that she was the weaker player—that Benny Watts knew more about chess than she did and could play it better. It was a new feeling for her, and it seemed to bind and restrict her as she had not been bound and restricted since the last time she sat in Mrs. Deardorff’s office.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik, Mrs. Deardorff
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Some of them were books she had seen before; a few of them she owned. But most were new to her, heavy-looking and depressing to see. She knew there were a great many things she needed to know. But Capablanca had almost never studied, had played on intuition and his natural gifts, while inferior players like Bogolubov and Grünfeld memorized lines of play like German pedants. She had seen players at tournament after their games had ended, sitting motionless in uncomfortable chairs oblivious to the world, studying opening variations or middle-game strategy or endgame theory. It was endless. Seeing Beltik methodically removing one heavy book after another, she felt weary and disoriented. She glanced over at the TV: a part of her wanted to turn it on and forget chess forever.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov, Harry Beltik
Page Number: 138
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

With an early queen trade, castling would be irrelevant. She could bring the king out the way you did in the endgame. She looked across at Benny again and saw that he was wondering why she was taking so long with this routine recapture. Somehow he looked smaller to her. What the hell, she thought again and took with the queen pawn, exposing her queen.

Benny did not hesitate; he took her queen with his and punched the clock smartly. He did not even say “Check.” She took with her king as she had to, and he pushed up the other bishop pawn to protect his king pawn. It was a simple defensive move, but something in her exulted when he did it. She felt naked with no queen this early in the game, yet she was beginning to feel strong without it.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik
Page Number: 155
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Do you want to play another?”

Benny shrugged and turned away. “Save it for Borgov.” But she could see he would have played her if he had thought he could win. She felt a whole lot better.

They continued as lovers and did not play any more games, except from the books. He went out a few days later for another poker game and came back with two hundred in winnings and they had one of their best times in bed together, with the money beside them on the night table. She was fond of him, but that was all. And by the last week before Paris, she was beginning to feel that he had little left to teach her.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

By the time she was in her twenties she could be World’s Champion and live wherever she wanted to live. She could have a pied à terre in Paris and go to concerts and plays, eat lunch every day in a different cafe, and dress like these women who walked by her, so sure of themselves, so smart in their well-made clothes, with their heads high and their hair impeccably cut and combed and shaped. She had something that none of them had, and it could give her a life that anyone might envy. Benny had been right to urge her to play here and then, next summer, in Moscow. There was nothing to hold her in Kentucky, in her house; she had possibilities that were endless.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Mrs. Wheatley
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

She sat at the board and wished for a moment, painfully, that she had someone to call. Harry Beltik would be back in Louisville. And she didn’t want to tell him about the game with Foster. He would find out soon enough. She could call Benny. But Benny had been icy after Paris, and she did not want to talk to him. There was no one else. She got up wearily and opened the cabinet next to the refrigerator, took down a bottle of white wine and poured herself a glassful. A voice inside her cried out at the outrage, but she ignored it. She drank half of it in one long swallow and stood waiting until she could feel it. Then she finished the glass and poured another. A person could live without chess. Most people did.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik
Related Symbols: Pills/Alcohol
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

No matter how often she told herself she was as good as any of them, she felt with dismay that those men with their heavy black shoes knew something she did not know and never would know. She tried to concentrate on her own career, her quick rise to the top of American chess and beyond it, the way she had become a more powerful player than Benny Watts, the way she had beaten Laev without a moment of doubt in her moves, the way that, even as a child, she had found an error in the play of the great Morphy. But all of it was meaningless and trivial beside her glimpse into the establishment of Russian chess, into the room where the men conferred in deep voices and studied the board with an assurance that seemed wholly beyond her.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov, Laev
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:

They went on together, exploring possibilities, following out line after line, for almost an hour. Benny was amazing. He had worked out everything; she began to see ways of crowding Borgov, finessing Borgov, deceiving him, tying up his pieces, forcing him to compromise and retreat.

Finally she looked at her watch and said, “Benny, it’s nine-fifteen here.”

“Okay,” he said. “Go beat him.”

Related Characters: Beth Harmon (speaker), Benny Watts (speaker), Jolene DeWitt, Vasily Borgov
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Queen’s Gambit LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Queen’s Gambit PDF

Benny Watts Quotes in The Queen’s Gambit

The The Queen’s Gambit quotes below are all either spoken by Benny Watts or refer to Benny Watts. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Talent, Ambition, Dedication, and Success Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

The horrible feeling, at the bottom of the anger and fear, was that she was the weaker player—that Benny Watts knew more about chess than she did and could play it better. It was a new feeling for her, and it seemed to bind and restrict her as she had not been bound and restricted since the last time she sat in Mrs. Deardorff’s office.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik, Mrs. Deardorff
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Some of them were books she had seen before; a few of them she owned. But most were new to her, heavy-looking and depressing to see. She knew there were a great many things she needed to know. But Capablanca had almost never studied, had played on intuition and his natural gifts, while inferior players like Bogolubov and Grünfeld memorized lines of play like German pedants. She had seen players at tournament after their games had ended, sitting motionless in uncomfortable chairs oblivious to the world, studying opening variations or middle-game strategy or endgame theory. It was endless. Seeing Beltik methodically removing one heavy book after another, she felt weary and disoriented. She glanced over at the TV: a part of her wanted to turn it on and forget chess forever.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov, Harry Beltik
Page Number: 138
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

With an early queen trade, castling would be irrelevant. She could bring the king out the way you did in the endgame. She looked across at Benny again and saw that he was wondering why she was taking so long with this routine recapture. Somehow he looked smaller to her. What the hell, she thought again and took with the queen pawn, exposing her queen.

Benny did not hesitate; he took her queen with his and punched the clock smartly. He did not even say “Check.” She took with her king as she had to, and he pushed up the other bishop pawn to protect his king pawn. It was a simple defensive move, but something in her exulted when he did it. She felt naked with no queen this early in the game, yet she was beginning to feel strong without it.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik
Page Number: 155
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Do you want to play another?”

Benny shrugged and turned away. “Save it for Borgov.” But she could see he would have played her if he had thought he could win. She felt a whole lot better.

They continued as lovers and did not play any more games, except from the books. He went out a few days later for another poker game and came back with two hundred in winnings and they had one of their best times in bed together, with the money beside them on the night table. She was fond of him, but that was all. And by the last week before Paris, she was beginning to feel that he had little left to teach her.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

By the time she was in her twenties she could be World’s Champion and live wherever she wanted to live. She could have a pied à terre in Paris and go to concerts and plays, eat lunch every day in a different cafe, and dress like these women who walked by her, so sure of themselves, so smart in their well-made clothes, with their heads high and their hair impeccably cut and combed and shaped. She had something that none of them had, and it could give her a life that anyone might envy. Benny had been right to urge her to play here and then, next summer, in Moscow. There was nothing to hold her in Kentucky, in her house; she had possibilities that were endless.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Mrs. Wheatley
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

She sat at the board and wished for a moment, painfully, that she had someone to call. Harry Beltik would be back in Louisville. And she didn’t want to tell him about the game with Foster. He would find out soon enough. She could call Benny. But Benny had been icy after Paris, and she did not want to talk to him. There was no one else. She got up wearily and opened the cabinet next to the refrigerator, took down a bottle of white wine and poured herself a glassful. A voice inside her cried out at the outrage, but she ignored it. She drank half of it in one long swallow and stood waiting until she could feel it. Then she finished the glass and poured another. A person could live without chess. Most people did.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Harry Beltik
Related Symbols: Pills/Alcohol
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

No matter how often she told herself she was as good as any of them, she felt with dismay that those men with their heavy black shoes knew something she did not know and never would know. She tried to concentrate on her own career, her quick rise to the top of American chess and beyond it, the way she had become a more powerful player than Benny Watts, the way she had beaten Laev without a moment of doubt in her moves, the way that, even as a child, she had found an error in the play of the great Morphy. But all of it was meaningless and trivial beside her glimpse into the establishment of Russian chess, into the room where the men conferred in deep voices and studied the board with an assurance that seemed wholly beyond her.

Related Characters: Beth Harmon, Benny Watts, Vasily Borgov, Laev
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:

They went on together, exploring possibilities, following out line after line, for almost an hour. Benny was amazing. He had worked out everything; she began to see ways of crowding Borgov, finessing Borgov, deceiving him, tying up his pieces, forcing him to compromise and retreat.

Finally she looked at her watch and said, “Benny, it’s nine-fifteen here.”

“Okay,” he said. “Go beat him.”

Related Characters: Beth Harmon (speaker), Benny Watts (speaker), Jolene DeWitt, Vasily Borgov
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis: