Born in a tiny Georgian city about 25 miles from the Black Sea coast, Nona Gaprindashvili has recently become a household name in the U.S., at least for Netflix executives and their legal teams. Almost 60 years after becoming a chess World Champion, the former Soviet celebrated her 80th birthday by suing Netflix for defamation.

In the series ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ a fictional prodigy mentions Gaprindashvili’s name and discounts her chess prowess by claiming she never challenged men to the game. Gaprindashvili asserts that this is not only untrue, but belittling to her reputation and career.

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Gaprindashvili made history in 1978 by becoming the world's first female Grandmaster. She was a five-time winner of the Women’s Soviet Championship, and was a veteran competitor in men’s tournaments as well. In fact, Gaprindashvili won the Hastings Challengers Tournament in 1963-4, tied for second at Sandomierz in 1976, tied for first at Lone Pine in 1977, and tied for second at Dortmund in 1978. It was her stint at Lone Pine that earned her the coveted title of Grandmaster.

While ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ certainly does not bill itself as a documentary, it’s no surprise that a woman with such accomplishments over both men and women would take great offense at such careless representation. The comment in question is uttered towards the end of the Netflix series, during a fictional match in 1968, at which point Gaprindashvili would have already competed with at least 59 men.

The Grandmaster and her lawyers claim the series painted a picture of her that is "manifestly false... grossly sexist and belittling." She seeks $5 million in damages stemming from "personal humiliation, distress, and anguish, as well as damages to her profits and earnings, and her ongoing capacity to engage in her professional livelihood in the world of chess."

The show itself takes a stab at portraying women as capable of competing in the same circles as men, while highlighting the inequities and injustices inherent to the 1960s. However, it missed out on the opportunity to pay homage to an existing champion whose aggressive and tenacious style of play did more for women in chess than bingeable media could hope to achieve.