Netflix has been sued by chess champion and Grand Master Nona Gaprindashvili due to a one-liner dialogue about her in The Queen’s Gambit miniseries.
On Thursday, Gaprindashvili filed a $5 million defamation suit against Netflix over a one-line dialogue in the show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, She also demanded the episode be modified to remove that particular dialogue.
A chess commentator uses that dialogue in the show’s final episode. The chess commentator talks about the show’s lead character, Beth Harmon, and says, “The only unusual thing about Beth, really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
Gaprindashvili claims she had played chess against 59 men by the time the episode takes place in 1968, and 10 of them were grandmasters.
Source: The New York Times
“Netflix brazenly and deliberately lied about Gaprindashvili’s achievements for the cheap and cynical purpose of heightening the drama by making it appear that its fictional hero had managed to do what no other woman, including Gaprindashvili, had done,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also mentions that Gaprindashvili is Georgian and not Russian.
The New York Times supports the lawsuit by pointing out an article published in The New York Times on April 15, 1968, with the headline “Chess Miss Gaprindashvili Beats 7 Men in a Strong Tourney.”
Netflix responds to the lawsuit
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Netflix spokesperson said, “Netflix has only the utmost respect for Ms. Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career, but we believe this claim has no merit and will vigorously defend the case.”
Netflix released The Queen’s Gambit in October 2020. The show also won the nomination for Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series at the 2021 Emmy Awards.
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