Netflix Can’t Checkmate Chess Grandmaster in ‘Queen’s Gambit’ Defamation Lawsuit

Winston Cho
·3 min read
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Netflix has lost a bid to end a lawsuit from a Georgian chess champion who says she was defamed in an episode of The Queen’s Gambit.

In September, Nona Gaprindashvili sued Netflix in response to a fictional chess commentator’s line in the series finale, which refers to her by name and says she’s “the female world champion and has never faced men.” She contends the statement is false and sexist.

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On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips found that the streaming giant acted with a “reckless disregard” for the truth, rejecting arguments that it cannot be sued for defamation of real people in works of fiction. “On the contrary, the fact that the Series was a fictional work does not insulate Netflix from liability for defamation if all the elements of defamation are otherwise present,” she wrote.

The Emmy-winning series chronicles the rise of fictional American chess player Elizabeth Harmon. The show, which topped streaming rankings for three straight weeks, culminates in Harmon beating Russia’s best players in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War.

The show is based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevi, but it references real chess players, including that passing reference to Gaprindashvili in a scene that compares her accomplishments to those of Harmon.

In a motion to strike the complaint under California’s anti-SLAPP law, Netflix argued that no viewer would’ve understood the line to convey a statement of fact because the series is fiction and “fictional works have no obligation to the truth.”

But Phillips ruled that she’s not aware of any cases precluding claims of defamation for the portrayal of real persons in otherwise fictional works. Though, it’s worth noting that these kinds of cases — such as those involving The Hurt Locker, Straight Outta Compton, The Wolf of Wall Street and Feud: Bette & Joan — often end in a loss for the unhappy subjects, which ultimately bodes well for Netflix.

Here, despite some of the fictional elements of the allegedly defamatory line, the judge said she can’t ignore that it identifies Gaprindashvili by name and that the show references real people and events.

“Not only does this close the gap between associating the supposedly fictional character with the real person, regardless of whether viewers recognized Plaintiff’s name (as indeed, some did), viewers may reasonably have believed the comment to be one of these historical details incorporated into the Series,” she wrote.

Netflix also argued that it didn’t defame Gaprindashvili because viewers wouldn’t conclude that the statement that she “never faced men” is disparaging. The streaming giant said the implication is inconsistent with the series’ portrayal of structural barriers that impeded women’s advancement in elite chess during the 1960s.

Phillips interpreted the line in a different way. She found it “clearly conveys an import to the very feat of playing chess against men — not only because men were believed to be better at chess, but also because it was a monumental achievement to break into that world.”

At the very least, the judge said that the comment is dismissive of Gaprindashvili’s accomplishment, which constitutes an injury to her reputation that could damage her career.

Phillips found that Netflix acted with malice in connection to the representation, a necessary element to plead defamation, because showrunners for the series altered the line from the novel on which it’s based. The novel states that Gaprindashvili was a player who “had met all these Russian Grandmasters many times before.”

Netflix declined to comment on the decision, which is embedded below.

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