The list of those who didn’t binge Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” late last year is a lot shorter than those who did. And to make sure its leading lady, Anya Taylor-Joy, was believable as a chess prodigy, the series enlisted real-life chess prodigy Bruce Pandolfini to consult.
“[It’s] not so much so that they knew how to play chess—that’s not relevant. But they have to look like they can play chess.”
Can you tell me what sort of duties the chess consultant for a series is responsible for?
There are a number of them. First, I read the script carefully to see how the chess in the script is described and if we could come up with chess positions to correspond to the situations in the series. I did that, and, initially, I developed 92 key positions to reflect various dramatic situations. I also had to train the actors, not so much so that they knew how to play chess—that’s not relevant. But they have to look like they can play chess, so in order to do that, you have to make the actors feel comfortable [and] assure them they can do it. And they can. Anya Taylor-Joy had no trouble picking things up. She really seems like a strong chess player. In addition to that, of course, you have to be on set a lot of the time to make sure things are filmed correctly, to make adjustments, and to prepare the actors in other ways, besides actually getting them ready for each scene. It extends throughout the entire series.
The Top Limited Series + TV Movie Performances of 2020 What specific ways did you work with the actors to make it look like they were seasoned chess players?
I had to meet them in pre-production and go over a few things. You don’t have to teach them much. The key thing is making sure they grab the pieces and move them in a natural manner. You don’t want to load too much information on the actor, because he or she has to be able to feel natural, and they don’t want to be distracted from acting. If you give them too much, that will pull away from their performance. I would meet with them [and] give them software for their phones so they could follow the chess positions. There would be various mnemonics that I would provide them with so they could remember moves, usually in sequences of three. That can be done very easily, even if you don’t know how to play.
How did you make sure they were able to realistically depict chess sequences while still being able to actually act?
You try to simplify the chess positions or change them in ways that could easily be handled. You rely on various visual patterns that they can easily recall, and you try to make the moves conform to that—visual mnemonics. It’s not very hard to do! It seems like it’s much more intimidating than it is. We’re not asking them to recall entire games. And, of course, it was handled so wonderfully by [series co-creator] Scott Frank. He knew when to cut and show a face, and that you don’t have to be focused on the board all the time. After all, it’s not a documentary about chess and chess instruction; it’s entertainment. So he knew how to employ all those techniques to keep the flow going.
As Beth Harmon, Taylor-Joy plays dozens of games throughout the series; how did you prepare her, specifically?
Anya was really intense and focused, and a very quick study. I have no doubt that if Anya would study chess now, she’d be a really good player. She’s very intelligent and picks up things right away. And she’s all business; she gets right down to doing it when the filming’s taking place. She didn’t like a lot of preparation—just a sufficient amount. But when she came to the scene and to the [chess]board, she was all business, and terrific.
What Skills Make an Actor More Likely to Get Cast? Can you tell me more about how you worked with Frank, who directed each episode, on the chess sequences?
Scott relied on the chess positions that are in the novel [by Walter Tevis, which the show is based on]. Walter was a chess player, so he had a good sense for how to do that. When we had to modify or vary a chess position, we discussed it with Scott. He was the ultimate decider of things, of course, but it was easy enough to make it work. The moves could be quite complicated, or sometimes in the script you might have emphasis on a rook moving and it might actually be a bishop, so we had to change that accordingly and make sure that’s what was happening. Or someone in the script might describe a movement, and you want to make sure it’s actually being filmed that way. There were other instances where you wanted the clocks to reflect the proper time [and] the writing down of moves on score sheets, because that’s not a natural thing for people to do. And we had to make sure that from take to take, [everything] was being done the same way for continuity.
Was part of your job also making sure that those who know the game very well would not be taken out of the story by inaccuracies in the chess playing?
Yes. They would very easily complain on the internet and cause all kinds of problems! We didn’t get very much of that at all. It’s been 99% positive feedback from chess players, which is an extremely good sign, because they’re always complaining about something. We wanted to minimize that ahead of time and ward off any potential troubles, and I think we did so. Every day, some pleasantry is thrown at me from people saying how much they love the series, so I’m just overjoyed that I had the opportunity to lend my expertise.
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