Let me introduce my character to you. Her name is Elizabeth Harmon, and she is a genius chess player. She is also an orphan, and she is struggling with a lot of emotional problems as well as drugs and alcohol dependency. But at the end, she always succeeds at achieving her goals. The right person appears at the right time when she is struggling the most and helps her find motivation to keep going. In this blog, I want to look closer at Beth Harmon and analyze how she overcomes all the difficulties and stays focused on her goal – to become an elite chess player (or maybe there is something else behind it?). But first, I would like to tell you some details about Beth - in case you haven't seen the show (which is by the way called "The Queen's Gambit").

Beth became an orphan when she was 9 years old and spent 6 years in an orphanage. While living there, she found a friend and a mentor, identified her true passion, and formed an addiction which would follow her throughout the years. These three things seem the most important in understanding the world (i.e., context) in which my character lives, so I am going to describe them some more.

Here is how Beth met her first friend. When standing in line to receive her daily vitamins, Beth met Jolene, an older girl who had come to the orphanage before her (and would leave it after Beth). Jolene will become a person who Beth would go to if she needed advice or help. She will also appear in one of the later episodes.

Here is how Beth formed an addiction. At the orphanage, all girls were given tranquilizers as a part of their daily vitamin routine. Jolene recommended that Beth kept the green pill (the tranquilizer) for the nighttime. Beth discovered that it worked even better if she skipped some nights and then took a couple of pills at once. This became the way for her to escape reality and… follow her dream.

And here is how Beth found her true passion. One day she was sent to the basement to clean the chalk erasers for her math class. When she went downstairs, she noticed a man who was sitting in front of a checkered board with figures on it. It was Mr. Shaibel, the orphanage custodian, who played chess with himself in his leisure time. Beth was fascinated with the board and the figures and asked Mr. Shaibel to teach her how to play this game. It took some time and effort to persuade him, as Mr. Shaibel believed that girls couldn't play chess. At last, he finally agreed to take Beth as his apprentice and he was the one who discovered her talent.

I look forward to making discoveries about Elizabeth and sharing them with you.