NONA GAPRINDASHVILI SUED NETFLIX FOR $5 MILLION OVER A SINGLE LINE IN THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT

 

At 80 years old, Nona Gaprindashvili sued Netflix for $5 million over a single line in The Queen's Gambit. The series celebrated a fictional woman conquering the male-dominated world of chess. But its finale had managed to diminish a woman who had already done exactly that.

The hit drama premiered in 2020. In its final episode, set in 1968, a commentator discusses Beth Harmon's remarkable success against male opponents. He mentions the real-life women's world champion, Nona Gaprindashvili, and claims she had "never faced men."

Nona knew otherwise. By 1968, she had competed against at least 59 male players, including ten grandmasters, according to her lawsuit. At a tournament in Gothenburg that year, she was the only woman in the field. She defeated seven male competitors and finished third.

Born in Georgia, Nona became women's world chess champion at just 21. She defended her title repeatedly, ultimately winning five world championships and holding the crown for 16 years. In 1978, she became the first woman awarded the international grandmaster title, one of chess's highest distinctions.

The television series also identified her as Russian, despite her Georgian identity. To Nona, the mistake was not a harmless detail. She had spent her career competing against men in a sport where women were routinely underestimated.

In September 2021, she filed a defamation lawsuit demanding $5 million. Netflix argued that the series was fictional and that its dialogue deserved protection as creative expression.

In January 2022, a federal judge rejected Netflix's attempt to have the case dismissed. A fictional work, the court explained, was not automatically immune from defamation claims involving a real person.

The case ended in a confidential settlement in September 2022. No settlement amount was publicly announced.

Millions had watched Beth Harmon win battles across a chessboard. Nona Gaprindashvili had been winning those battles in real tournaments decades earlier. When television rewrote that record, she challenged it in court.

- Women in World History