Georgian chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili, who sued Netflix in 2021 for false representation of her in the show The Queen’s Gambit, can proceed with her lawsuit as the streamer’s plea to dismiss it was rejected by a US court on Thursday.
The show runs parallel to Gaprindashvili’s life and is based on Walter Tevis’ novel of the same name. It follows the life of fictional American chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon, played by actor Anya Taylor-Joy, and her journey to becoming a World champion, while tackling her issues with drugs and alcohol.
The suit in question was filed after a line from the series claimed that Gaprindashvili had never faced men. The scene describes Harmon and goes, “The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
The Georgian champion’s filing from 2021 calls this claim sexist and “manifestly false,” noting that by 1968, the year in which the last episode is set, Gaprindashvili had competed against at least 59 male chess players (28 of them simultaneously, in one game), including at least ten Grandmasters.
Further, it points out that the error was made despite Netflix hiring renowned chess players and experts, Gary Kasporav and Bruce Pandolfini, to work as consultants on the show.
Gaprindashvili is seeking $5 million as damages.
Netflix tried to brush the mention off as a minor inaccuracy that did not imply Gaprindashvili’s inferiority. The platform further argued that the show came with a disclaimer that it is entirely a work of fiction.
However, the court, on Thursday, observed that there was no precedent of defamation suits being disallowed because the wrongful portrayal of real persons happened in a fictional work. The series being a work of fiction would thus not shield Netflix from liability for defamation, the court added.
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“Despite the presence of fiction surrounding the line, however, the court cannot ignore that the series does reference real people and events and most importantly, the line identifies a real person, the plaintiff, by name, references her real career, and then shows an actor sitting in the audience who resembles plaintiff,” Judge Virginia A Phillips wrote in her ruling.
The judge also noted that the line was “dismissive of the accomplishments central to the plaintiff’s (Gaprindashvili) reputation” and impacts her ongoing professional pursuits, owing to the show’s popularity, as it referenced her by her name.
The Queen’s Gambit, which released on October 23, 2020, hit a viewership record of 62 million views within 28 days of its release. After the show’s premiere, the book it is based on was featured on The New York Times best seller list, 37 years after its publication.