My thoughts on The Queen’s Gambit (a Netflix series)
I just finished watching The Queen’s Gambit (a Netflix series) and I’ve to say that I loveet (love it).
I use to be crazy about Chess. So crazy, I skipped lectures just to play chess all day during my University days in LASU.
Funny thing, I was not “that good” and was made painfully aware of this when a guy beat me 7 consecutive times in one day. No draw by mistake, error or pity sef.
I didn’t sleep that night as I played the game over and over and over again in my mind. I woke up with my legs on the pillow and my head hanging over the edge of the bed.
So what was it about the Queens Gambit that I love?
Well, this is not life lessons or business tips from the series. It’s just themes that I felt seep through as I watched. These are:
1. Honour the call: deep calls unto deep. Beth was just supposed to dust the duster and return to class. But the moment Beth saw the chess board, there was no turning back. It tugged at her heart all day and all night and thankfully, yield she did. It’s what you can term answering the questions posed to you by your gifts, can you? Would you? Should you?
2. There is always enough for your need but never enough for your greed. This I got when her adopted mum realized Beth’s love and prowess and offered to be her manager. She asked for 10% of the prize monies, Beth made a counter offer of 15%. It was such a beautiful moment. It shows, it’s not always about money, trust and loyalty would always rank high.
3. You can’t help yourself. Sometimes no matter how strong you are or how much independence/ confidence you exude, when push turns to shove, you will need help. It might be just a word, a hug, a yab or something seemingly insignificant but yet powerful enough to drag you out of the pit of self despair and/ or self destruct. I love how Beltik, Jolene, and even Benny, tried to save Beth from self destruct. No one is strong enough, but we are stronger together.
4. Negotiate, don’t roll over and die or cry. It’s said, you often don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate for. Beth’s adopted father tried to chase her out of the house that he had previously agreed to release to her. But Beth stood her ground and negotiated. She got a fair deal out of it.
5. Cheer, Care and Counsel : we all need people that watch out for us and actively root for us as we try to win (in this instance, winning can be anything you term it to be). And that last episode where Beth’s friends and former chess opponents gathered together to help her win the Russian Grandmaster was awesome. You can only do so much. You can only see so much. You can’t cover all the angles. You need extra pair of eyes and hands to guide you through when it’s crunch time.
Maybe I should start playing chess again. It’s really not about winning (yeah right). It’s a good sport that will task and develop the thinking muscles.
Maybe I need to focus less on me and look out for people to cheer, care and counsel. We all could do with all the help we can get.
Maybe I should watch the Queens Gambit again. It was surely worth the while.
Written by Olumide Holloway (King Olulu)
Twitter @olulu4ever, Instagram @olulutheking, olulu4ever@gmail.com, +2348025070892
