The "female empowerment" side of this show was starting to annoy me half way: tough looking Beth with cigarette plays drunk wearing Shocking Blue lipstick and hairdo, tripping over trash full of liquor, Beth walks around super elegantly with cocktail dress, woman beats guy #30 wearing a white arty dress.... It was all too much posing and modeling, more than she was a chess champion. Is that female empowerment? Does she need to look like a sex bomb 100% of the time?

The script never gets over-dramatic and plays safe, similar to GLOW. There is drama but all subdued. All things that happen to her are a polished, glamorous version of real life. And therefore this show never 'touched me'.

Friends and foes pop up at the most convenient times and you can just feel how the writers put her in a bad place before they introduce a component that resolves her predicament. I could "feel" the levers writers were pulling.

Lastly I feel the actual chess matches were predictable. Only the end-game had surprises and twists. I feel that for a chess n00b like me, they could have made these matches much more exciting and on-the-edge-of-your-seat.

Having said that, this was still an amazingly well produced show with great visuals, entertaining storylines and great production values. Which is why I think it really does not deserves low ratings. At the same tine I feel the average rating for this show as of today is too high.