Fictional series very popular on Netflix is ‘The Queen’s gambit’. It is a story of Beth Harmon struggling with addiction in aquest to become the greatest chess player in the world. Knowing her strength & going for it was very new then.
Although the series is fictional we do have a real queen among us. The real pioneering chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili! Now 80, she lives in Georgia was pained how the television show had erased her many successes against male opponents.
A 1968 headline in the New York Times reads, “Chess; Miss Gaprindashvili Beats 7 men in a Strong Tourney” If the opponent is good, it is good. More you excel at the game. When watching the Hindi Film about the Indian Women Hockey team, ‘Chak De’ more than Shahrukh Khan or the motivated women winning the game against Australia’s hockey team, the raising of the sticks by their own counterparts was the cherry on the cake. For their practice the women are made to play with the men’s hockey team & they lose but get the salute from the men!
On Thursday, Ms Gaprindashvili filed a legal suit against Netflix seeking millions of dollars in damages. She has claimed that this fictional character was blazing the trail for other women but in reality I had already blazed the trail & inspired generations. That’s the irony.
The suit claims that she had ‘never faced men’ caused professional harm to Ms Gaprindashvilli who continues to compete in senior chess tournaments.
Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit what is important here is the champion has to prove herself all over again! In a man’s world the women strive twice to stay afloat & such setbacks make it really tough. The recognition & the acceptance is slow … the fight continues…
Asian Entertainment 