Nona Gaprindashvili

Nona Gaprindashvili (3 May, 1941) is a Soviet and Georgian chess player. She was the fifth women's world chess champion, and the first woman in history to be given the honour and rank of International Chess Grandmaster.

Gaprindashvili enjoyed a hugely successful career, and recent interest in her and her chess achievements was fuelled by the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit - the fictional story of female chess prodigy, Beth Harmon. However, it features references to real life chess competitors including Gaprindashvili. In the final episode, a commentator compares Harmon's achievements to Gaprindashvili's, but says the latter "never faced men" in competition.

Gaprindashvili has rightfully taken issue with the inaccuracy, and is suing Netflix for misrepresenting one of her "most significant career achievements". ​ By the time the episode in question was set, Gaprindashvili had played over 50 top male chess player.

Now 80 years old, Gaprindashvili began playing in tournaments at the age of 12. Throughout her career, in a chess world that was overwhelmingly male, she encountered severe prejudice because she was a woman, and often the only woman competing amongst men.

Netflix claims the First Amendment affords broad artistic license to the show's creators and sought to have the case dismissed. A judge in California has disagreed, stating that working defamation into a fictional series does not insulate Netflix from liability, and the case will go ahead.

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