'Abandoned Soldier' is a disappointment: a film review of a former female professional Go player

Original author: Authorized translation by Lee Hajin (Li Xiachen)

Translator's Preface: The TV series "The Queen's Gambit", which Netflix launched two months ago, has been on fire for a long time and has been at the top of the viewing list for a long time. However, Lee Hajin, a famous Korean-born female Go player, published a rather heterogeneous review article on the Medium website, and the perspective in the article is worth reading.

Note: This review contains spoilers.

Initially I didn't pay much attention to the Netflix show "The Fleeing Soldier." After all, it's about chess, not Go. I am a retired professional Go player and now a software engineer by profession. I started learning Go at the age of five and trained as a teenager for up to 12 hours a day until I became a professional player at 16.

Chess and Go have many similarities. They are both intellectual sports, both with big national and international competitions with huge prize money, and the masters of both are going all out to try to be the best in the world. During my years at the International Go Association, I also had the opportunity to work side-by-side with FIDE (International Chess Federation) officials and visited several world-class tournaments (which often share the venue with the Go events).

The "Abandoned Soldier" craze has swept the world, and my Go friends are posting more and more about it on social media. Finally I decided to take a look too. Plus, my husband recently got a free one-year subscription to Netflix, so I should check it out.

I understand that Rear Wings are fictional. In this fantasy tale, a beautiful young woman overcomes alcohol and drug addiction to become a world champion, and American chess players join forces to help her defeat the "Russian". I don't mind how unlikely these events are, it both thrills and moves me. However, there are many aspects of this story that frustrate me. I don't have that rush to watch the next episode, I have to force myself to keep going, or at least finish the show.

Here are the main reasons why The Rear Wings deserted me:

1. In real life, chess players get stronger because they fail. I remember going to the bathroom and crying alone after losing a game, hundreds of times, because I was angry and annoyed about losing. No one is talented enough to be so much better than everyone else and never lose a game. I think losing chess is an integral part of the whole professional journey. The pain of losing chess makes you grow. Beth almost never loses a chess game except against the American or World Champion in "Holdings". If she lost more, especially at the beginning, the whole story would be more convincing.
2. Even geniuses have to undergo comprehensive and systematic training to become world champions. Training means sacrifice. When I was in elementary school, I could only imagine what it was like to be free to go to my friends' birthday parties or play with them. The reality is that day in and day out, I have to go to a Go school for training, no exceptions. Watching Beth become the U.S. and world champion without rigorous training and sacrifice, a feeling of being cheated on.
3. Going from an amateur player to an elite player is difficult. An hour or two of chess here and there looks free and easy. You may feel like you really like it and can play chess all day long, but when you really take it as a profession, sooner or later you're going to run into difficulties. When Beth's mother started giving her full support as she toured the country, I expected Beth to have at least some difficulty. They weren't rich, and the travel cost alone meant Beth had to win. It's a stress, but the show doesn't describe how Beth copes with this transition and stress.
4. The stronger the chess player, the stronger the respect for the sport. In Beth's match against the young Russian boy who became the US "co-champion", it was impossible to imagine her behavior so bad. It was also unbelievable that she lost control on the eve of the Paris final. I also have a hard time appreciating her keeping an eye on her opponent during the game. It's seen as a lack of etiquette in Go, and while I'm not sure if it's the same in chess, I've never seen any world-class players do this in the chess tournaments I've visited.
5. I highly doubt that any world-class chess player would take the time to groom his hair and make up (including long false eyelashes) on the morning of a big event. Beth is already stunning enough, is it really necessary to dress her up like a doll in all game scenes?

Having said all that, I agree that the show's acting is brilliant and the cinematography is very elegant. I'm also happy for the chess community because the show has gained a ton of new players. There are a lot of movies and TV shows about sports stars, but there are still too few and too little about mental sports like chess, Go, and bridge. My little wish is that there will be more content in this field and more compelling stories to tell.

About the original author

Lee Hajin (Li Xiachen): Born in South Korea in 1988, he started learning Go at the age of 5 and became a professional chess player at the age of 16. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the secretary general of the International Go Association, and did a lot of commentary during the Alpha Go game. Currently living in Mountain View, California, USA, and working as a software engineer at Dun & Bradstreet, a business information company. The author has obtained permission to translate this article from Hajin, and I will share it with you here.

Original title : "Disappointed by Netflix's The Queen's Gambit: A review by a former professional Go player" published on December 16, 2020

Original link https://hajinlee.medium.com/disappointed-by-netflixs-the-queen-s-gambit-a-review-by-a-former-professional-go-player-292d2ee96960