The Queen's Gambit: Netflix denied motion to dismiss defamation case

The hit series focuses on the fictional chess player Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy

Netflix must answer a defamation case over its hit series The Queen's Gambit, a US judge has ruled.

The streaming giant is accused of misrepresenting "one of the most significant career achievements" of chess master Nona Gaprindashvili.

She has taken issue with a line in the drama where a character claims, falsely, that she "never faced men".

Lawyers said the error had "tarnished (her) personal and professional reputation" around the world.

The Queen's Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Joy is the fictional story of the female chess prodigy, Beth Harmon. However, it features references to real life competitors including Gaprindashvili.

In the final episode, a commentator compares Harmon's achievements to Gaprindashvili's, but says the latter "never faced men" in competition.

Netflix said that "no reasonable viewer would have understood the line to convey a statement of fact", according to legal documents seen by PA, as it was an "entirely fictional work".

It added the the show's millions of viewers would require "knowledge of competitive Soviet chess in the 1960s" to understand the alleged defamation.

Nona Gaprindashvili pictured playing at the International Chess Congress in London in 1964

Netflix sought to have the case dismissed, arguing the First Amendment afforded broad artistic license to the show's creators.

However, on Thursday, a judge at California Central District Court said there had been no evidence of any cases "precluding defamation claims for the portrayal of real persons in otherwise fictional works".

Adding: "On the contrary, the fact that the series was a fictional work does not insulate Netflix from liability for defamation if all the elements of defamation are otherwise present."

Gaprindashvili's lawyers noted that she had, in fact, become the first woman in history to be given the honour and rank of International Chess Grandmaster.

"During [Gaprindashvili's] career, she encountered severe prejudice because she was a woman and often the only woman competing amongst men," they wrote, in legal papers filed in the US.

"When the series aired, multiple news outlets and various individual internet users commented on the inaccuracy of the line."

Gaprindashvili, according to the document, believes the show "misrepresented one of (her) most significant career achievements... before millions of viewers worldwide" and also "tarnished (her) personal and professional reputation."

It said her reputation and brand was "inextricably bound up with her courageous efforts to face and defeat estimable male opponents" in a time when "chess was overwhelmingly a man's world".