88 - How to Make Chess Riveting to Watch - The Queen's Gambit

As games go, chess is maybe not the most exciting thing to watch as a spectator. Its complexities make it difficult for non-experts to truly appreciate. And yet, in Netflix's limited series, "The Queen's Gambit," the filmmakers somehow manage to not only make it exciting, but downright riveting. How did they pull that off?

Well, we recently sat down with editor Michelle Tesoro, ACE, and sound designer Wylie Stateman to discuss how they successfully crafted such tense and thrilling scenes which even a non-chess player could follow and, more importantly, enjoy.

"Chess is a wonderful game, but it's also sort of a board-level warfare experiment. And you're constantly playing out moves in your head. The way Scott Frank blocked the scenes, you know that we are in Beth's head, or we're in each of the chess players' heads. And that gives us a great opportunity to explore that space. It's a very aggressive game of control – or lack thereof, if you're the losing opponent."

— Wylie Stateman, Sound Designer, "The Queen's Gambit

If you haven't already, be sure to check out "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix.

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