Anya's Checkmate: I'm Making All The Right Moves'

TV’s new ‘it girl’ doesn’t like playing by the rules

It’s the show that everyone is talking about, not just because of its fascinating storyline, but because of the stand-out performance by Anya Taylor-Joy. The actress has previously starred in Peaky Blinders, Split, Glass and the hit 2020 movie Emma, but it’s her latest incarnation as an addicted chess player aiming to become a grandmaster that really resonates with the star.

Playing orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon in the adaptation of Walter Tevis’ bestselling book The Queen’s Gambit brought back memories of Anya’s own childhood, and Anya identifies strongly with Beth because she, too, grew up struggling to fit in.

The American-born British star (her Scottish parents are of Spanish and Argentinian descent), tells, “The thing that struck me about Beth was that she was an inherent lonely person. I’ve spent a lot of my life not understanding where I fit in and desperately wanting to find a place to fit in. Beth found it in chess. I found it in making art.

“I definitely felt I could tell this story of somebody desperately seeking a place where they could feel like themselves and feel like they had something to offer.