[S1E4] Middle Game ((INSTALL))

Thankfully Matt and Mike are there to fill Beth in on exactly who these intimidating men are. Eventually the match begins and Borgov, known as the Master of the Sicilian, begins his game plan. While the moves slowly go back and forth, each strategizing against the other, Alma is noticeably absent.

[S1E4] Middle Game

It's a fair way into the chase. You go down some stairs into Central Park (sometimes you will enter from the street opposite the stairs). The Huggy Token is right in the middle of the grassed area, next to the fountain.

The Queen's Gambit Episode 4 is titled 'Middle game'. Well if you are on this site, it is highly likely that you are quite well versed with this term. This episode shows how Beth deals with a lot of things she is yet to discover, starting with learning Russian language, relaxing a day before the tournament to dealing with young boy as well as old men playing mind games with her assuming the worst of her. We also see Troitsky's study, Fischer, Capablanca, Stein and a couple of Kasparov's game including one against Anand replayed in this episode. Were you able to spot them all? Check out the review of Episode 4 and find out. Photo: Netflix stream

Siegbert Tarrasch said, 'Before the endgame, the Gods have placed the middle game'. The quote and meaning is famous among the chess universe. No matter how much you prepare the opening and endgame, middle game is completely dependent on your understanding, strategy, feel and demand of the position. In every game you are bound to come across unknown positions where you have to make critical decisions yourself. The path to glory is certainly not an easy one.

The first mention of chess in this episode was when Beth's guardian wanted to know what she was reading in flight, Beth replied, 'Pawn structure analysis'. After a couple of scenes, we see Mrs.Wheatley saying, 'Chess is not all there is', to which Beth instantly says, 'It's what I know'. A lot of players who only like to stay in the chess universe and not explore the unknown before the tournament would be able fathom themselves in Beth's shoes. Beth also mentioned earlier, 'The tournament starts tomorrow. I need to work on these endgames'. There was the following position in front of her.

The moment I saw this position, it looked vaguely familiar to me. I remember seeing Beth having some endgame book. So it could probably be from Collection of Chess Studies by Alexey Troitsky which was originally published in 1937.

The next time we see a chess position, we hear Beth's voiceover explaining her games to her mother and the following position is shown on camera when Beth says she had her opponent O Marenco's king in a mating net in 31 moves.

After a change of frame, we see another zoomed in position where Beth plays Qf7+ and the next move is a checkmate. After a careful search, I found that the position before the move Qf7 is a game between Kasparov and Dutch legend Loek Van Wely played in Wijk aan Zee in 2000. If you nitpick then you will have a hard time believing Beth playing a game which was played 34 years later by Kasparov, but we are not going to do that, we know she is not the Doctor (Who yet?)

The game in reality got over after 25.Re7, however for dramatization purpose an extra move of 26.Qf7+ was added, because finishing move by the Queen adds to the effect. Get it?

We only see Beth's mystery opponent playing 26.Ra4 followed by Beth following the game with 26...Rb8 which was the final move of the actual game before the scene changes.

In case you are wondering if this game is also a replay of a previously played game then you are right as Beth's first encounter against Borgov is a replay of the game between Leonid Stein and Aleksandar Matanovic from Yerevan International in 1965.

Episode 4 - 'Middle game' once again lives up to the name. It is about the evolution of Beth Harmon. How she deals with the unforeseen situations, how she adapts to adversity and there is much more to life than just chess. Chess players know that no matter how much you prepare, the middle game is where you have to deal with the unfamiliar situations yourself. You can apply what you have learnt but the decisions you have to make them yourself on the board.

Watch the entire episode of The Queen's Gambit Episode 4 - Middle game on Netflix. The series is meant for adults only. So kids, if they want to watch the episodes for chess purpose, they can take an adult's help in watching only the chess elements of the mini-series.

This would make sense, because Beth learns from her opponents as she goes along in The Queen's Gambit, and tends not to make the same mistake twice. When she played Harry Beltik, he arrived late and then was constantly yawning and slurping coffee, which knocked Beth off her game to the point she had to go to the bathroom, only returning (and winning) after taking her pills. While Georgi was a talented player who was driven to be the best in the world, he also tipped his hand to distractions by talking about his desire to see a drive-in movie. That suggested he might be susceptible, and it's also worth noting that he mentions Elizabeth Taylor specifically. As pointed out by Insider, this marks the first time Beth wears yellow in The Queen's Gambit, mirroring a famous dress worn by Taylor at the 1961 Oscars, which further ties into this idea. Beth is an instinctive player, but this also shows she knows how to get into an opponent's head.

However, The Queen's Gambit novel shows a different side of this. In the book, Beth figures out the entire game in her head the night before, and wants to "crush" Georgi because she feels a deep hatred for him. Preceding that, though, it also discusses how she was behind on the clock, and so it's clear that she needs to speed the play up to get her movies in, but also because of her loathing of her opponent. There's little sign in the show that she feels such a passionate dislike of Georgi, though it is possible her anger at not beating him reflects onto him. In both the show and the book, though, Beth softens after defeating him, seeing some of herself reflected in him, which is why she tells him she's the best she's played. She realizes that he has nothing else but chess when he doesn't understand her questioning, and in that also sees that Alma was right: there's more to life than chess.

At this point we are introduced to two new characters created for the show here in The Last of Us S1E4. The first character we meet is Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey). Kathleen is the leader of a group of survivors who have seemingly taken over a FEDRA complex, the one Joel and Ellie referred to when they first got into town. So far Kathleen seems to be a no nonsense take no prisoners type leader. When we meet her she is interrogating a prisoner Dr. Eldelstein (John Getz). The reason for his imprisonment is because Kathleen believes he knows where Henry is hiding. Players of the game will be very familiar with that name!

This week's episode of The Mandalorian takes us on an inconsequential tangent eerily reminiscent of watching somebody else play a video game. Specifically, a paint-by-numbers side quest placed 70 hours into an over-bloated role-playing game. In the spirit of that, we're embracing the show's detour into RPG territory and doing something a little different with the recap walkthrough this week.

First, please note that this quest is entirely optional. The credit reward is outrageously low, there are no collectable armor upgrades and the main plot will not be advanced at all. Feel free to skip it unless you really want Cara Dune (Gina Carano) to join your party later in the game.

While the mission objective states that you should find a place to lay low to avoid the bounty hunters that are tracking Baby Yoda, you should ignore this. Instead, head straight to the Cantina. There you will find a litany of non-player characters of a variety of races, standard to pubs in this game. The only one you can interact with is the waiter.

Next, step outside and press L1 to turn on scanning view. You'll see a distinct pair of pink footprints leading into the forest. Follow the footprints to trigger the fight cutscene with Cara. Don't worry, she immediately turns out to be friendly and you won't lose any HP. At this point, Cara will force you to return to the Razor Crest. As is typical of Star Wars games, the developers chose to only develop a small portion of this planet and it's not big enough to support two mercenaries.

Soon two farmers will come to you with a Yojimbo-like task to defend the village against some Klatooinian Raiders. They whine that they have "no protection" and live "in the middle of nowhere." They will offer a tiny amount of credits (all the money they have) but here's a tip: if you first turn down the quest, they will immediately ask again offering a larger reward. This time accept the job.

Track down Cara again and talk to her. Hire her for the mission, but keep some of that extra money you may have earned for yourself -- she doesn't need to know you gouged those desperate villagers. Rest in the cart to fast-travel to the village. And yes, because this is a video game, your character never takes off his helmet, even to sleep.

The game will then automatically shift away from its standard third-person action focus to a turn-based strategy format for the first time. This brief tutorial starts by asking you to send three of your peasants to dig a deeper pond and the rest to gather wood. Use the wood to build barricades along the edges. As soon as those are done, equip half of your villagers with guns and the other half with sharp sticks. Once you upgrade them with one level of training the game will switch back to third-person action.

Go to the Klatooinian camp and stealth takedown the first two guards. Sneak into the tent with the glowing booze kegs, plant one detonator on the middle column, and get ready for a quick fist fight. If you've timed it right, as soon as the two gunners come into the tent, jump out the back just before the whole joint explodes. 041b061a72