It started strong, but the main character becomes annoying later in the series. I couldn't believe that someone who behaves as she does could be intelligent enough to become a chess champion:

1. Excessive drug use and other debauchery 2. Lack of prolonged speech involving incisive thought on any topic - she speaks exclusively in pithy sound bites 3. Grandiose behavior - she's disrespectful to her opponents for no reason at all

Every person I've ever met who had this combination of traits was not nearly as talented as they thought they were. I just couldn't buy it. Even the most poorly socially adjusted world champion, Fischer, had some amount of charisma to him, and that's just totally missing in the main character of this series.

Can we end the trope that smart people are quiet and stare blankly into the camera like they're too smart to use facial expressions? Most of the high performers that I know have strong cognitive skills all around, including their social skills. At the very least they tend to be humble and not grandiose, but I guess that isn't entertaining enough for a TV series.