Awesome / The Queen's Gambit

• In the first episode, "Openings," after Beth finally checkmates Mr. Shaibel, he invites the head of the local high school's chess club to visit and play her. After she beats him and Mr. Shaibel at the same time (and makes her final moves while not even looking at the board, just picturing the moves in her head), the teacher invites her to come to the chess club and play all of the members all at the same time. She does and beats them all in less than two hours. And then she goes back to Mr. Shaibel and complains about how sloppy their playing was. Keep in mind that Beth is nine years old.
• In the second episode, "Exchanges," Beth decides to enter a chess tournament, where the first prize is $100. Since she's unrated in chess, however, she has to start at the bottom, even though she insists on playing the top players. She beats every one of her opponents and even though the top player is very tough to beat, she eventually does it and wins. This is Beth's first tournament, she gets her first period during it, and even then she still beats everyone. At the end, everyone is in awe of her.
  Beth: Do you see it now? Or should we finish this on the board?
• In the third episode, "Doubled Pawns", Beth absolutely dominates the tournaments she enters: as she tells her mother, by the time she faces off against Benny in the US Open, she has a perfect record. Her growing reputation is summed up at the Cincinnati tournament, where she introduces herself to her first opponent and his reaction is a quiet "Shit."
  • Another one in Episode 3 is for Benny: not only is he the first person to make Beth aware of errors in her playing style just by analyzing one of her games, without having actually been present (something Beth herself notes as being impressive), he also becomes the first person since Mr. Shaibel who can even play Beth to a draw, showcasing his own prodigious skill and cementing himself as one of her main rivals.
• The fourth episode, "Middle Game", demonstrates why Russian players are The Dreaded in the chess world: Beth's first match against one, a thirteen-year-old boy, is visibly one of her most difficult matches yet, and despite beating him, she freely admits that he's the best player she's ever faced. And when she has to face Borgov, it is, by her own admission, a Curb-Stomp Battle, and Beth is visibly intimidated during the match and shaken afterwards.
• The fifth episode, "Fork", has Beth attending the U.S Championships, and having a rematch with Benny. She goes into it slightly off-kilter, having played (and lost) a number of speed chess games with him the night before, but beats him in 30 moves, making her the U.S champion, and therefore eligible to go to Russia and play Borgov.
  Benny: You should see the places they play in the Soviet Union.
  Beth: I'm planning on it.
  Benny: You have to get past me first.
  Beth: I'm planning on that, too.
• The sixth episode, "Adjournment", has Allston go back on his promise to let Beth live in her old house, with him coming to the house with a lawyer to try to take it back from Beth. She stands up to him and then some, but it's not until he makes the mistake of calling Alma "pathetic" that she really snaps.
  Beth: ...Did you ever hear her play?
  Allston: Of course.
  Beth: Yes, but did you ever really listen? Alma was not pathetic, she was stuck. There's a difference. She didn't know how to get out of it. Pathetic, well... I'm looking at pathetic.
• One of several moments in the final episode, "End Game": a Russian player named Laev makes the mistake of underestimating Beth. He quickly learns the error of his ways.
  Announcer: As far as they knew, Harmon's level of playing wasn't up to theirs. Someone like Laev probably didn't spend a lot of time preparing for their match. [...] My guess is Laev was expecting an easy win, and not at all the 27-move thrashing Beth Harmon just gave him.
  • Next up is Beth's match against in-universe Living Legend Luchenko, an old man and former World Champion who's described as having mellowed out, but still a very dangerous opponent. It takes two days to finish the match due to an adjournment, and Luchenko has many advantages, such as extra time, playing white, and the position that they were left in when the game adjourned, which favored him. Despite these setbacks, however, Beth is able to wrest out a victory, and Luchenko compliments her on her skill.
    Luchenko: I went over your games at this tournament. You are a marvel, my dear. I may have just played the best chess player of my life.
  • Townes coming to Moscow to cheer Beth on and help her out with strategizing against Borgov, and getting Benny, Harry, Matt and Mike, Hilton, and Arthur together to do the same.
  • Beth's final match against Borgov: the stakes are high, the tension is higher, and both players are at their best. However, Beth is thrown during the match when Borgov makes a move that neither she nor the others had predicted he would make. However, she's able to play on the ceiling (doing it for the first time without her tranquilizers) and plays out move after move to come to a conclusion. She wins, with Borgov being a good sport and the crowd applauding her in her greatest victory.