- Sent to an orphanage at age 9, Beth develops an uncanny knack for chess and a growing dependence on the green tranquilizers given to the children.
- Elizabeth is in Paris in 1967. she wakes up in a strange hotel room. Takes some pills with alcohol and rushes out. She is late for her chess match, and gets to her chair, as soon as she reaches the venue.
Elizabeth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is orphaned (Beth's father (Sergio Di Zio) (its made clear later that Beth's father abandoned her after he and her mother had differences) & Alice Harmon (Chloe Pirrie), Beth's deceased mother (seen only in flashbacks) who earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Cornell University before experiencing a downward spiral in her mental health), at age 9 when her mother dies in a car crash on New Circle Road. She is taken to an orphanage, where the children are given tranquilizing pills to make them more compliant. While cleaning chalkboard erasers in the basement, Beth discovers the custodian, Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp) (the custodian at the Methuen Home for Girls and an experienced chess player who teaches Beth how to play the game), studying chess on his own. Helen Deardorff (Christiane Seidel), director of Methuen Home for Girls & is a kind woman. Miss Lonsdale (Rebecca Root) the chaplain and choir director at Methuen. Mr. Fergusson (Akemnji Ndifornyen), the orderly at Methuen, who among other roles administers state-mandated pills to the girls.
After repeated requests, and demonstrating that she has already learned how the pieces move by observing him, he reluctantly agrees to teach her the game. She becomes obsessed and improves quickly, thanks to her spatial intelligence and abuse of the mind-altering tranquilizers (she sometimes skips them for a few days and then takes them all together for a feeling that she really likes), which allow her to focus and visualize chess games on the ceiling above her bed. Early on, Shaibel is able to beat Beth easily, but she learns the popular gambits like the Scholar's mate, Sicilian defense, the Levenfish variation, the najdorf variation, the queen gambit etc. He also teaches her how to resign when the game is lost. Beth becomes proficient with her openings, by reading a book given to her by Shaibel. Shaibel declares Beth astounding, she is 9 yrs old. When she is able to beat him regularly, Shaibel introduces her to the local high school chess club teacher, Mr. Ganz (Jonjo O'Neill), whom she also beats. Ganz invites her to play a simultaneous exhibition against his entire club. Helen is supportive to develop Beth'a talents further. She invites Beth to play chess in the games salon, instead of in the basement.
After the state passes a law outlawing the use of tranquilizers on children, Beth begins to suffer from withdrawal. Provided a tranquilizer pill by her friend Jolene (Moses Ingram) (a rebellious teenager at the Methuen Home who becomes Beth's closest childhood friend), Beth beats Ganz's entire class easily, later commenting to Shaibel on their poor chess skills and how invigorating it was to win. Still suffering from withdrawal, she is caught stealing a jar of the medication and passes out after overdosing by swallowing several mouthfuls of pills.
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