The Queen’s Gambit

by

Walter Tevis

Harry Beltik is a high-ranked chess player against whom Beth competes. At the beginning of the novel, Beltik is the reigning Kentucky State Champion. Beltik is a strong player, but he is somewhat arrogant and underestimates 13-year-old Beth. He shows up late to the championship match at the tournament before she beats him handily. Even after the tournament, Beltik undercuts Beth’s talent, giving a statement to a local newspaper that Beth shows “a mastery of the game unequaled by any female.” Years later, after Beth loses to Borgov in Mexico City, Beltik offers to tutor her, acknowledging that she needs a lot of rigorous study in order to be able to compete with Russian players. He lives with Beth in her home for several weeks while helping her study for her upcoming tournament in Paris. They also begin a sexual relationship, but it is largely passionless for Beth. She appreciates his help but gradually recognizes that he has little to teach her, and when she starts to beat Harry consistently—even when he plays with a handicap—he grows somewhat demoralized. He leaves her home shortly after with little ceremony, saying that he has to focus on his own studies to become an electrical engineer.

Harry Beltik Quotes in The Queen’s Gambit

The The Queen’s Gambit quotes below are all either spoken by Harry Beltik or refer to Harry Beltik. 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 5 Quotes

LOCAL PRODIGY TAKES CHESS TOURNEY. Under this, in smaller letters, boldface: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD ASTONISHES EXPERTS. She remembered the man taking her picture before they gave her the trophy and the check. She had told him she was thirteen.

Beth bent over, reading the paper:

The world of Kentucky Chess was astonished this weekend by the playing of a local girl, who triumphed over hardened players to win the Kentucky State Championship. Elizabeth Harmon, a seventh-grade student at Fairfield Junior, showed “a mastery of the game unequaled by any female” according to Harry Beltik, whom Miss Harmon defeated for the state crown.

Related Characters: Harry Beltik (speaker), Beth Harmon
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
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 12 Quotes

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:
Get the entire The Queen’s Gambit LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Queen’s Gambit PDF

Harry Beltik Quotes in The Queen’s Gambit

The The Queen’s Gambit quotes below are all either spoken by Harry Beltik or refer to Harry Beltik. 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 5 Quotes

LOCAL PRODIGY TAKES CHESS TOURNEY. Under this, in smaller letters, boldface: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD ASTONISHES EXPERTS. She remembered the man taking her picture before they gave her the trophy and the check. She had told him she was thirteen.

Beth bent over, reading the paper:

The world of Kentucky Chess was astonished this weekend by the playing of a local girl, who triumphed over hardened players to win the Kentucky State Championship. Elizabeth Harmon, a seventh-grade student at Fairfield Junior, showed “a mastery of the game unequaled by any female” according to Harry Beltik, whom Miss Harmon defeated for the state crown.

Related Characters: Harry Beltik (speaker), Beth Harmon
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
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 12 Quotes

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: