2020, the year of sumptuous TV style: From The Queen's Gambit to A Suitable Boy, small screen fashion made a statement
The TV series that offered the most compelling sartorial splendour this year also showed us that to be truly fashionable, clothes have to move beyond visual delight.
In life as in The Queen's Gambit, why chess becomes a metaphor for duty, love and conflict
But this is not the only modern work that deploys chess in this fashion. Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Blade Runner, to name just a few, use versions of the game at key moments to show a character’s growth or to stand in as a metaphor for conflict.
The Queen's Gambit review: Anya Taylor-Joy mesmerises in gripping study of genius marred by addiction
The Queen's Gambit traces a thriving subculture of nerds who eat, breathe, walk, talk and live chess. It's a nerd subculture worlds away from some of its modern variants, where misogynists band together in their shared sense of aggrieved entitlement.