“Do You See It Now?”

Chess and storytelling in The Queen’s Gambit

Young Beth (Isla Johnston) hallucinates a chessboard on the ceiling

Based on the novel by Walter Tevis (The Hustler), the new Netflix limited series follows Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy who claws her way to the top of the sport while fighting — and often, succumbing — to her addiction to pills and alcohol.

In its first fifteen minutes, The Queen’s Gambit presents as many opportunities for terrible things to happen as any horror movie I’ve seen.

A five-year-old girl left orphaned by a car accident remembers her mother’s last words before the impact: “Close your eyes.” Clearly, there’s more to this “accident” than meets the eye. Afterward, this girl is taken to an austere and dusty orphanage run by drably-costumed religious fanatics who force-feed their charges vitamins and tranquilizers every morning. Then, the girl encounters the creepy custodian who seemingly lives in a secluded corner of the orphanage’s grungy basement.

There is a deliberate ambivalence — even ominousness — to so much of the early episodes of The Queen’s Gambit.

We are set up to anticipate a number of dark turns only to be taken down another narrative path. New state law forbids the orphanage from continuing to feed the children tranquilizers; the director of the orphanage is stern and religious, but sympathetic to the…