Gregory Nussen

Film critic

“Chess is perfect for cinema: the game itself builds tension, testing psychological resilience and tactical mastery. That’s why “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Queen of Katwe” worked so well.

However, Netflix’s “Queen of Chess” delves neither into the internal tension of the game nor into the history of lifelong discrimination faced by Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar. Instead, the film focuses on her years-long attempt to defeat Garry Kasparov, unintentionally framing Polgar’s career as a quest to prove she is ‘on par’ with men.

The main problem is that the work is too ‘Netflix-ish’: archival footage and interviews provide a broad perspective, but never a truly deep one. Most of the important contextual questions remain unaddressed: childhood in impoverished communist Hungary, Jewish faith, and pressure from her father.

It’s especially disappointing that the film clarifies almost nothing beyond what one can read on Wikipedia. The film belongs to the subcategory of streaming works that can be called ‘Podcast-Movies’ or ‘Primitive Slideshows’.”