The actress who made many around the world – including this columnist – glued to a mini-series about chess even though we don’t know a thing about playing the board game, was also clueless about chess.

“I had never played chess,” admitted Anya Taylor-Joy.

That is, until she signed on to play Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit. Based on Walter Tevis’ novel of the same name about an orphan who rises to become a grandmaster, the show, set in the 50s and 60s, is currently among Netflix’s most-watched series.

All her young life, Beth struggles with her addiction to tranquilizers. They were first given to her and fellow wards in an orphanage to keep them silent and easier to manage. As a young girl, Beth, played by Isla Johnston, was introduced to the strategy board game by the orphanage janitor, Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp).

Beth is immediately hooked to the game, and so are the viewers. When Beth goes to bed and sees a chessboard form on the ceiling and she plays chess by herself, it’s a strange, magical moment that recurs throughout the miniseries.

With Anya taking over as Beth grows up, she keeps us watching the show since it’s not just about chess. Oftentimes with just her large expressive eyes, Anya enthralls as Beth goes on her journey as a woman rising to the top in a game and in an era dominated by men.

“I feel so grateful that I was introduced to the secret magical world by some of the greats of chess,” said Anya, her facial features even more striking on Zoom.

“Essentially, my sensei was a man called Bruce Pandolfini,” she credited the United States Chess Federation national master who is a chess author, teacher and coach.

“Bruce was so kind and generous with his time and love. I really fell in love with the game through him. It was very important for me to make him proud. And he’s really proud of the show.”

The 24-year-old, who was born in Miami but grew up in Buenos Aires and London, shared that she was shocked when she learned that giving tranquilizers to kids in orphanages used to be the norm.

“My brain was blown when I discovered that in the 50s and the 60s, it was acceptable and common practice to drug kids to make them easier to handle,” Anya said. “I couldn’t believe that wasn’t science fiction. And that was history.”

She added, “It’s very problematic that Beth discovers chess, which is a wonderful thing, at the same time that she’s being forced to take these things because it spirals off.”

“It triggers this constant question of, am I really brilliant at this? Or am I a conduit for these things? Are the drugs actually what’s brilliant about me? Or am I brilliant by myself? She struggles with that throughout the show.”

For Anya, having not only Bruce but also Garry Kasparov – the Russian grandmaster who is considered one of the world’s best chess players – coach and choreograph her character’s moves was a tremendous help.

It was important that each game scene was markedly different. “It was a very early conversation that Scott (Frank, director) and I had about how do we make each of these chess matches different. I do think it has a lot to do with the person that Beth is playing opposite against and her mental state at the time.”

“One of my favorite games is the first time that Beth plays (D.L.) Townes (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) because it’s also the first time that she has ever not necessarily wanted to beat someone. She likes him and she feels bad about the decimation that is currently going on. And it was just fascinating. I find it very dramatic.”

Anya elaborated about Townes, a character who has set the internet buzzing about his sexuality.

“I think he makes her…he’s potentially one of the first people who makes her feel comfortable and she doesn’t understand that,” Anya commented. “That’s where the times really come into it. She really likes this guy but everything that she’s been told is that this is wrong.”

“It takes her awhile to understand that there’s nothing wrong with her. Townes was just born that way. And that doesn’t mean they can’t have an equally beautiful, loving friendship.”

A year since filming The Queen’s Gambit, Anya continues to play the game said to be derived from the Indian game, chaturanga, created before the 7^th century.

“I have a travel chess set now,” Anya dished. “On set, I’m very popular because when you’re waiting around a lot, people enjoy the chance to be able to play.”

Anya claimed she was also not aware of Walter’s book until the role came up. “I never heard of the book prior to my meeting with Scott. But once I opened up that first page…if I wasn’t a bit embarrassed now that I’m part of the show, I would give that book at Christmas to absolutely everybody in my life.”

“Now, it looks like self-promotion but in reality, it’s a book that everybody should read. There’s a lot to be learned from that book.”

Interestingly, as early as the 90s (when Anya was a mere toddler), The Queen’s Gambit was already being developed, but as a feature film. The late Heath Ledger was considering directing the project.

“I signed on to this before there were several scripts,” Anya recalled. “I just read the book. I ‘inhaled’ the book in an hour and a half. I am not a runner but I ran to meet Scott. I ran to that meeting because I just had so many ideas. I felt so passionately about this story and this person.”

Anya’s performance, the series’ irresistible narration of a chess prodigy’s trailblazing journey and our fascination with genius make the series binge-worthy.

“While I can’t speak to my own inner genius, I can speak to somebody who doesn’t feel like they fit in anywhere and is desperately looking for a place where they can find their home. Where they feel like they have something of value to add.”

“The first place I ever felt at home, and the first time I ever was like, I’m where I’m supposed to be, was the day that I stepped on set of The Witch. That was the first time that I was like, oh, it exists, a place where I can contribute something and where I’m valued. It’s a real place.”

“And for Beth, it was chess. For me, it was moviemaking. What’s beautiful about Beth in particular is that she exists in this weird realm of society where she’s genuinely baffled by the fact that people bring up her gender. She doesn’t understand why it’s even part of the conversation.”

“That’s hopefully where we should move to in society where you’re not being told what you’re allowed to dream of, what you’re allowed to want for yourself based on your gender or how you identify. It’s almost like no one gave Beth the handbook of, you’re a girl in the 1960s; this is what you’re allowed to want. And playing that, especially in the time period, was incredibly liberating.”

On Beth’s attitude towards sex, Anya explained, “I found her approach to sex quite empowering in the sense of, again, because she wasn’t necessarily given this handbook of, these are all the insecurities that you need to bring into it, she treats her first sexual experience like a science experiment.”

“Beth has such an analytical mind. She’s like, oh, ok, that’s supposed to be a big deal in my life and that was disappointing for me but I’m glad that I’ve done it.”

“I sometimes struggle watching Beth’s interactions with the men and women in her life, but particularly the men just because she doesn’t have the greatest strength of empathy. The way that she discards both Harry (Harry Melling) and Benny (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), when I watched that, I was, oh Beth, that’s not how you treat someone kindly.”

“But I do think she’s growing up with it. She’s learning how to inhabit herself sexually and how to be kind to her other partners as well.”

While Anya is not an orphan in real life, she professed kinship to Beth. When she was an infant, Anya and her family – father is Scottish-Argentine while mother is English of South African and Spanish heritage – moved to Argentina. At six, Anya and her family moved again, this time to London. She was educated in both cities.

The youngest of six children remains close to her family. “Even today, I tend to gravitate towards people who are older. That comes from having a very close relationship with my parents and my siblings are all a lot older than me. So I was never really a kid. I never really played the kid card. Not in a sad way. I’m very connected to my inner child which is like a weird phrase to say, but it’s true.”

Like Beth, Anya has a fertile imagination. “I literally play make believe all day long. My characters are as real as imaginary friends are for children. I had imaginary friends as a kid because I didn’t have real contact with other kids.”

“I would create entire plays. I was lucky enough when I was living in Argentina because there was a lot of woodland around me. I would run in there and create lots of different witches and magical beings that were my friends. I thought I’d grow out of it. But as you can see by my filmmaking choices, apparently not.”

From modeling, the girl who trained in ballet branched into acting. Anya earned the label “scream queen” for her roles in such horror films as The Witch, Morgan and Split.

But Anya has since graduated to more diverse roles. Anya’s performance in The Queen’s Gambit is earning her the best reviews in her career so far.

“There was such little separation between Beth and me,” Anya claimed. “That was so wonderful to experience as a performer. But I had to be wary because it meant that if Beth was having a bad day, I was naturally having a bad day. I had to learn how to go, this is the character, this is not me. But I still had to sit with it.”

“I saw so many parallels between myself and this character. To use the 2020 phrase, I felt seen by this book. I felt seen by this person.”

“I am so grateful that it was Scott who wanted to do this with me because he was not just an incredible commander of the ship of what we were doing. But he also took great care of me personally. It was important for him that I, as Anya, was also safe and well and taken care of. I will always be grateful to him for that.”

Anya is one of the lucky actresses with seemingly nonstop projects: Emma, Last Night in Soho, untitled George Miller Furiosa spinoff (she will be Furiosa, no less), The Sea Change, The New Mutants, Peaky Blinders and Split.

“I’ve not stopped working since I made my first film,” Anya said. “While that has been a wonderful experience, there was a lot of experiences that I put in a box. I didn’t have time to really reflect on what I had been through or what I had learned.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to learn in the last six years of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to do this job. I learned to be gentle with myself, which I think was a lesson. That was a long time coming.” – Rappler.com