{"id":72204,"date":"2025-09-09T12:42:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2132582"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:42:44","slug":"the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/","title":{"rendered":"The Queen’s Gambit is a love letter to play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen’s Gambit.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the strategy. None of the game.<\/em> Nevertheless, inspired by the thrilling chess sequences of The Queen’s Gambit, I booted up the chess program pre-loaded on my laptop, positioned the difficulty slider quite generously to my advantage… and lost a bishop within seconds. I’m not sure how it happened. It was there one moment, and then it was gone, like a magic trick. But no matter: poor chess ability is no barrier to your enjoyment of The Queen’s Gambit. Not because there isn’t much chess in it – there is! It’s just that while the surface<\/em> of the show concerns itself with the particulars of chess, what it’s really tapping into is something far more universal. Namely, play.<\/em><\/p>\n

In his seminal work of game studies Homo Ludens, historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga argues that it is not wisdom<\/em> that defines humanity, but rather play.<\/em> I came across Huizinga while reading another book, GAMISH: A Graphic History of Gaming<\/a> by Edward Ross, which is not only a great introduction to game studies but contains a wonderful potted history of chess. The game has been with us in one form or another for over 1400 years and travelled the Silk Roads to become what Steven Johnson calls “one of the first truly global cultural experiences”.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen’s Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the strategy. None of the game. Nevertheless, inspired by the thrilling chess sequences of The Queen’s Gambit, I booted up the chess program pre-loaded on my laptop, positioned the difficulty slider quite generously to my advantage… and lost a bishop within seconds. I’m not sure how it happened. It was there one moment, and then it was gone, like a magic trick. But no matter: poor chess ability is no barrier to your enjoyment of The Queen’s Gambit. Not because there isn’t much chess in it – there is! It’s just that while the surface of the show…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"The Queen’s Gambit is a love letter to play\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":168,\"caption\":\"The Queen\u2019s Gambit is a love letter to play\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Queen’s Gambit is a love letter to play\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News","description":"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News","og_description":"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":168,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"The Queen’s Gambit is a love letter to play","datePublished":"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/"},"wordCount":259,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/","name":"The Queen's Gambit is a love letter to play | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-09T12:42:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of The Queen's Gambit. A confession: I am quite terrible at chess. I do know the rules, but none of the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play.jpg","width":300,"height":168,"caption":"The Queen\u2019s Gambit is a love letter to play"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-queens-gambit-is-a-love-letter-to-play\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Queen’s Gambit is a love letter to play"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318285,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72204\/revisions\/1318285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}