Netflix has been sued by chess grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili due to a line of dialogue about her in The Queen's Gambit.
Gaprindashvili filed a defamation suit against Netflix on Thursday seeking $5 million in damages with more in punitive damages, as well as a demand for the episode to be altered to remove the dialogue, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The dialogue comes from a chess commentator in the show's final episode.
While talking about the show's fictional lead character, Beth Harmon, the chess commentator says, "The only unusual thing about [Harmon], 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 competitively played chess against 59 males by the time the episode takes place in 1968. 10 of those were reportedly grandmasters. Sure enough, as The New York Times points out, an article was published in The New York Times on April 15, 1968 with the headline "Chess Miss Gaprindashvili Beats 7 Men in a Strong Tourney." Also, the lawsuit mentions that Gaprindashvili is Georgian and not Russian.
"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.
Netflix replied to the suit by praising Gaprindashvili's accomplishments but pushing back against the lawsuit. "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," a Netflix spokesperson said, according to THR.
The Queen's Gambit was released on Netflix in October 2020. It reportedly appeared in Netflix's U.S. daily top ten rankings more times than almost any other show in 2020. The show is nominated against WandaVision for Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series at the 2021 Emmy Awards.
Here's a full list of what's new on Netflix in September 2021 including the final season of Lucifer and a new season of Sex Education.
Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.