‘The Queen’s Gambit’ and Addiction Recovery: How One Netflix Series Proves Recovery is the Greatest Move of All

Openings

The Beginnings of Addiction

From the first episode of the miniseries, watchers of The Queen’s Gambit, set place in the 1950’s and 60’s, are enraptured as the main character, Beth, is placed in an all girls orphanage where the fictional drug “Xanzolaare” (most likely a form of Librium) a Benzodiazepine is given to residents in the form of green and white pills that they tell the young orphans are “vitamins,” which are readily given to calm, subdue, and ultimately control them. Soon it becomes apparent when Beth defiantly sneaks away into the basement to play chess with the custodian, Mr. Shaibel, that Beth isn’t quite like the other girls as she finds that chess gives her an escape outside of the walls of the orphanage.

Beth starts saving and taking her pills late at night in quantities greater than prescribed by her caretakers, then finds that while laying in bed in a drug induced haze that she is able to see an imagined upside-down chessboard above her on the ceiling where the pieces move along as she imagines potential game decisions. Beth watches as the chess pieces move across the chessboard on the ceiling giving her insight to chess moves and scenarios, synchronizing the notion that her excellence at the game is related to her taking a substance at night. Due to this connection, a dangerous game begins as she starts to believe that she needs drugs in order to be brilliant and a greater piece addiction emerges.

The Middle Game

With Continued Use Addiction Grows

According to an article from The New England Journal of Medicine, long-term use of benzodiazepines as well as other prescription drugs can lead to dependence. Once the drug is used and especially when it is abused, the addiction sets in. This is very true when benzos are taken for a long period of time or abused in quantities greater than prescribed. When benzodiazepines are taken away withdrawal symptoms can occur such as anxiety, seizures, irritability, confusion and sleep disorders. The orphanage workers suddenly take the pills away from the orphans and while that might seem like an good move (as all the watchers are yelling at their screens), it is too late and the damage has been done as our main character a young orphan girl is now addicted to benzodiazepines. We watch as young Beth repeatedly questions where her medicine and shows obvious signs of addiction and withdrawal by being impatient and rude to her friends. Desperately Beth tries to find a way to get more pills and an addiction cycle starts that entangles her for many years to come.

Beth rises to success while becoming a top chess player as her addiction grows. The culture of the chess world’s energy is mesmerizing to Beth, there’s competition, flash, celebrity status and fame. She quickly rises in the chess world and becomes an anomaly as not only a young chess player, but a young woman chess player. In the time that the series is set, there aren’t many women playing the game at all, in fact only one other women chess player is recognized in the series. Beth is finally adopted by a woman, Alma Wheatley, who takes anxiety medication (Benzodiazepines) and is also an addict (we later find out). To Beth’s surprise these are the same medications she was given in the orphanage, showing the common and frequent use of these numbing drugs during this time period. Alma becomes a parent-like figure for Beth but transcends that when they become conspirators and join together to reap the benefits of the chess world. Beth gains friends and acquaintances in the chess world, she wins tournaments, she travels, she becomes financially stable, all while becoming more and more dependent on her addiction to benzodiazepines and newly found addiction to alcohol now that she is coming of age.