Money And Life Lessons From “The Queen’s Gambit”

Have you seen Netflix’s most-watched miniseries, “The Queen’s Gambit,” yet? It is the story of Beth Harmon, an orphan after her mother commits suicide and takes place in mid-1950s Kentucky. Against all odds, Harmon becomes a chess prodigy, rising to become the world’s chess master while emotionally struggling with adoption, rejection, drug, and alcohol dependency.

As a metaphor, chess is not new, and chess is often symbolic of life, war, and survival. The famous physicist  Richard Feynman was said to have used chess to solve mathematical and scientific problems.

Valuable Money And Life Lessons

1. Find Your Passions And Purpose Beth Harmon was a socially awkward child when she arrived at the orphanage. Alone in the world, an older girl, Jolene, takes her under her wings. Harmon is more of an observer in her small world rather than a social butterfly.

2. Keep Practicing And Learning Beth Harmon’s first exposure to playing chess was through watching the orphanage’s janitor, Mr. Shaibel. He is an experienced chess player who plays alone in the basement. Mr. Shaibel initially discourages her from watching him but soon recognizes her strong interest. Mr. Schnaibel, a chess enthusiast, mentors Harmon who learns quickly.

3. Adopted, She Adapts To Her New Situation Beth Harmon is adopted by a childless couple, the Wheatley’s, sticking with her chess passion. She quickly realizes her adoptive parents, Alma and Allston, have marital problems, and her adoptive father moves across the country.

4. Overcoming Hurdles In The Male-Dominated Chess Game In the mid 20th century, the chess game was played mainly by males, like the business world. Chess was not always that way. Notable women are known to play chess: Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I. When Benjamin Franklin traveled to Europe, he played chess with socially significant women.

5. Set Goals And Have Strategies As her winnings increased, Harmon set her sights on larger venues in different cities in the US. She dived into reading classic chess books by the masters learning each possible strategic move practicing through visualization skills. Taking tranquilizers regularly, Beth used the ceilings to envision the chessboard pieces and tried different strategies to play in her next game.

6. Financial Independence From the start, Beth Harmon is fiercely independent and fits a different mold.  Women during the 1950s and 1960s were financially dependent on their husbands. As a successful chess player,  Beth Harmon became a role model for her adoptive mother, Alma.

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