The Queen’s Gambit is exceptional. Please DON’T make season two.

The Queen’s Gambit is a story set during the Cold War about an orphan chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who struggles with addition during her quest to become the world’s best chess player.

The Queen’s Gambit, named after an aggressive opening move in chess, is a seven-part miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis.

At its heart this is an underdog and anti-hero story of a young women in 1960s America battling gender norms, addiction and conformity.

The story starts with Beth as a young child left unharmed by the car crash that kills her solo-mother. She is sent to a Christian school for orphans. While there, she develops an addiction to drugs given to the children by the orphanage and she learns to play chess. She is taught the rules of the game by the orphanage’s janitor Mr. Shaibel.

Beth is adopted by a childless couple and begins taking part in male-dominated chess tournaments. She is underestimated due to her gender, but easily defeats her male opponents. But can she beat the very best – the Soviet’s chess Grandmaster Vasily Borgov?

The Queen’s Gambit is exceptional. Seriously, just give them all the awards now. My appeal to Netflix: please DON’T make season two! As tempted as Netflix might be to make a follow-up, there is no source material from Walter Tevis and a second season can only diminish the first.

The script and acting is superb. Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth is phenomenal, giving a magnetic lead performance. Expect her to be the next big Hollywood star. Marielle Heller, known in more recent years for directing, plays Beth’s adopted mother, Alma Wheatley, with fragility and vulnerability. Bill Camp as mentor Mr. Shaibel. Thomas Brodie-Sangster as chess hotshot (and big knife wearing) Benny Watts. Harry Beltik as chess player Harry Melling. Moses Ingram as orphanage friend Jolene. They all produce excellent performances.

The miniseries brilliantly captures the mid-1950s and 1960s aesthetic with lavish and detailed production design, sets, elegant costuming and music. The fashion is hot! Bring back some 1960s fashion. I don’t envy whoever had to source the period furniture, wallpaper, cars, and props. They have so perfectly captured the look and feel of 1960s America as well as the other countries Beth competes in.

The cinematography is breathtaking. There was a camera shot in the penultimate episode where Beth and Jolene sit on a squash court that is so perfectly framed throughout that I wanted to do a fist pump.

The Queen’s Gambit is a must-see.