I picked up Walter Tevis’s The Queen’s Gambit in the kind of used bookstore where the shelves are too full, the air smells like paper and dust, and there’s always one guy in the corner reading Infinite Jest like it’s an Olympic event. I had no idea who Tevis was. The cover looked cool. Someone had underlined half the book in messy pencil, so I figured, This must be important to someone.

Set in 1983, the story follows the rise of chess prodigy Beth Harmon, an orphan who grapples with genius and overcomes addiction to become the best chess player in the world.

Years later, Netflix decided to turn it into a miniseries. And nearly 5 years later I still appreciate the tiny details that were put into the drama. It became their most-watched limited series ever upon its release in 2020, and every chess nerd with a pulse saw their moment to shine. But beneath the glitz of Beth Harmon’s meteoric rise, the show wasn’t just about chess. It’s a story about obsession, genius, self-destruction, and the painful reality that even prodigies don’t get a free pass in life. You don’t have to know a rook from a bishop to walk away with something useful.

Here’s ten of them.

1. Start Even When You’re Not Ready 

At her first tournament, she walks up to the officials and asks to play the best player there. They laugh. She doesn’t care. She lets her game do the talking. By the time she’s finished, no one is laughing anymore.

In real life people do the opposite. We wait. We just   need one more book, one more class, one more year, before we’re ready to take the leap. But “ready” is a moving target. 

The lesson: Stop waiting for the stars to align. You’ll never feel 100% ready—and that’s exactly why you need to start now.

2. Trust Your Gut. But Verify 

Beth plays chess to the point where she feels it. She’s an intuitive player, during her games she makes moves she can’t fully explain, she just knows.

That kind of raw intuition is a gift, but it’s also a trap. Early in her career, Beth crushes opponents by going with her gut. But when she starts facing the best in the world, she realises just knowing isn’t enough. She has to study. She has to strategize.

At one point Beth trusts herself—until she doesn’t. When self-doubt creeps in later, we see how devastating it can be.

We’ve all experienced this, whether we realize it or not. It’s the moment you blurt out the right answer in a meeting before you know why it’s right. It’s when you make a split-second decision that saves you from disaster. It’s the gut feeling that tells you this is the one—the job, the partner, the path you need to take.

The lesson: Trust your instincts,  but don’t mistake impulse for wisdom. Intuition gets sharper the more you engage with your craft. Check your work and learn from your weaknesses.

3. Obsess Over Your Craft 

Beth breathes chess. If she’s not playing, she’s studying. If she’s not studying, she’s replaying games in her mind. She hallucinates chessboards on the ceiling. Even tranquilizers can’t keep her from calculating moves in her sleep.

Is it healthy? Questionable. Is it necessary? Absolutely.

Anyone at the top of their game will tell you the same thing: obsession isn’t optional. You don’t get good by dabbling. You get better by caring about something so much that people start worrying about you. Beth’s mother tells her to get a life. She doesn’t listen. She knows what she wants.

The lesson: If you already have an all-consuming passion, lean into it. Mastery doesn’t come from “interest”—it comes from the kind of devotion that makes other people nervous. If you want to be great, accept that obsession is part of the deal.

4. Stop Trying to be Likable 

Beth doesn’t care about fitting in. She doesn’t fake small talk. She doesn’t try to charm her way into social circles. She’s awkward, blunt, and sometimes completely unreachable.

And yet, people are drawn to her. Why? Because she’s completely herself. She doesn’t waste energy performing. The people in her life respect her because she’s genuine—even if that means being a little difficult. It’s counterintuitive, but the more she stops trying to fit in, the more interesting she becomes. By the end, even her former rivals want to be in her orbit.

We spend way too much time worrying about what other people think. We delude ourselves and smooth out our rough edges to fit in. And in the process, we lose the thing that makes us interesting.

The lesson: Be deeply, stubbornly yourself. The right people will gravitate toward you. Others won’t matter. 

5. Study Your Competition 

Beth plays her opponents, watches their matches, reads about their interviews, and memorizes their strategies until she can replicate them.

This is more than just winning. She’s self-aware—studying her rivals forces Beth to confront her own weaknesses. She doesn’t just figure out how to beat them—she figures out how to beat herself.

People treat competition like a battle because one person wins, and the other loses. But competition is also a roadmap. It shows you where your weaknesses are and teaches you what works and what doesn’t. 

The lesson: If you want to be the best, don’t just play your own game. Play theirs, too. Don’t ignore the people who are ahead of you. Study them. Learn their strategies. Figure out why they win. If you understand your competition, you’ll understand yourself better, too. 

6. Team Up With Your Opponents 

At first, Beth is a lone wolf. She doesn’t want help. She sees her rivals as threats.

Then she realizes later on that she needs people. Overtime she starts training with the very players she once defeated. She learns from them. They study together, they strategize together, they want her to win. And in the end, it’s those connections that help her win the biggest match of her life.

There’s a moment before the final match in Russia where every chess player she’s defeated is suddenly on the phone, helping her prepare. They’re invested in her success. That doesn’t happen if you treat your competition like enemies.

Success isn’t a solo game. Even the most brilliant minds need support. Behind every great player is a team of people who helped them get there.

The lesson: You don’t have to do it alone. Surround yourself with people who challenge you.Treat your rivals like potential teammates. You never know who will have your back when it matters.

7. Take Care of Yourself—Success Means Nothing If You’re Running on Empty

Beth is a genius, no doubt. But she’s also a mess. From the moment she’s handed tranquilizers at the orphanage, addiction becomes a shadow that follows her everywhere. Pills, alcohol, the endless pressure to win—it all piles up. And sure, she keeps going, but at what cost? Even chess, the thing she loves most, becomes both her refuge and her prison. “It’s an entire world of just 64 squares,” she tells a reporter. “I feel safe in it. I can control it. I can dominate it.” But outside those 64 squares? Chaos.

Passion is a powerful thing, but not when it drains you dry. Burnout is real. Addiction is real. And no amount of success can outrun a body and mind that are falling apart. Take care of yourself. Rest when you need to. And for the love of all things, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Even the strongest people need it.

8. Know When to Walk Away 

In chess, when you’re cornered with no way out, learning how to accept loss with humility is  considered good etiquette. You shake hands. You live to fight another day.

Mr. Shaibel teaches Beth early on how important it is to know she’s on the losing end. She doesn’t fight the inevitable. She studies her losses and get better.

We then saw later on as Beth struggles. She clings to her vices longer than she should. She keeps playing out destructive patterns, hoping the outcome will somehow be different. The only way she wins—both in chess and in life—is by learning when to let go.

Most of us cling to bad decisions. We double down on jobs, relationships, or projects long after they’ve stopped serving us. We refuse to admit defeat—even when it’s obvious.

The lesson: There’s no honor in dragging out a losing game. There’s always time to walk away, learn from it, and move on to the next match.

Knowing when to quit isn’t failure, it’s a strategy.

9. Chosen Family Is Family

If The Queen’s Gambit proves anything, it’s that family isn’t always the people you’re born into—it’s the people who choose you. Beth and childhood friend Jolene grew up in an orphanage. Mrs. Wheatley’s husband checked out long before he physically left. And most of the people Beth gets close to are loners, misfits, or just too tangled up in their own mess to have a traditional family.

But that doesn’t mean they’re alone. They find each other. They create something just as real, just as deep, something close as binding as blood. You see it when Beth and Mrs. Wheatley travel together, slowly forming something like a mother-daughter bond. You feel it when Jolene shows up for Beth, years later, when she needs her the most.

The Lesson: Families are those who stay, show up, and make the effort, even when they don’t have to. And sometimes, that means choosing the people who choose you right back.

10. Success Doesn’t Fix Everything 

Beth wins. She proves herself. She rises to the top.

And yet, her problems don’t magically vanish. She’s still alone. She still struggles with addiction. She still carries the ghosts of her past.

Winning isn’t a cure-all. Money, fame, and talent don’t erase the deeper wounds. Beth has to deal with that reality, just like the rest of us.

The lesson: Success is great, but don’t expect it to fix what’s broken. Achievements won’t fill the gaps inside you. If you’re miserable before success, you’ll be miserable after. The real work is internal.