Netflix is to face a defamation claim from chess grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili for a false statement made in the fictional series The Queen’s Gambit, which stated that Gaprindashvili “never faced men.” The Georgian chess player said that this has “tarnished (her) personal and professional reputation” in the eyes of millions of viewers worldwide. In refusing Netflix’s application to have the case thrown out, a Californian Central District Court judge said that there was no evidence of “precluding defamation claims for the portrayal of real persons in otherwise fictional works.” The BBC, Daily Mail and Chess.com have covered the ruling. Continue reading