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Georgian chess champion sues Netflix for portrayal in The Queen’s Gambit

By 1968, Nona Gaprindashvili, the first woman to achieve the status of an international chess grandmaster, had faced at least 59 male chess players

Nona Gaprindashvili REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze

Nona Gaprindashvili

© REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze

TBILISI, September 17. /TASS/. Georgian chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming she was incorrectly portrayed in the 2021 series The Queen's Gambit, a partner at BLB, a Georgian law firm representing the player, said on Friday.

"In one of the episodes dating back to 1968, a commentator says that chess player Nona Gaprindashvili has never faced men. But this is wrong," lawyer Maya Mtsariashvili told TASS.

She added that their work on the lawsuit had begun soon after the TV series release.

The defamation lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles states that by 1968, Gaprindashvili, the first woman to achieve the status of an international chess grandmaster, had faced at least 59 male chess players.

Gaprindashvili, now 80, is seeking $5 million in compensation and the removal of the allegation from the TV series that she had never faced men.

The lawsuit also says Gaprindashvili is insulted by the fact that Netflix described her as a Russian player.

Born in 1941 in Georgia's town of Zugdidi, Gaprindashvili won the female World Championship in 1962 and defended her title successfully four times.

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