In preparation for the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit," I read THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT first. But I don’t play chess, don’t even understand the game. And I don’t normally enjoy books involving coming of age. Yet THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT is full of detailed descriptions of games of chess and a chess player growing up and into a chess champion. Even so, I did enjoy it.

Beth is an eight-year-old orphan when she comes upon a janitor quietly playing chess by himself in the basement of the orphanage where she lives. She is intrigued and picks up on the game just by watching him regularly. Eventually, he teaches her more and more, and she finds that she can easily analyze a game in her head and predict another player's moves.

So begins the story of a chess prodigy. After Beth is adopted and her new mother discovers that Beth’s talent can make them money, the two of them travel around the country (at Beth’s expense) to chess tournaments. (And Mom gets 10 percent of the winnings.) She is still a teenager when she is competing, and winning, big-time in spite of drugging and drinking that just about fries her brain before she is even 20.

If you haven’t seen the Netflix series yet, I suggest that you, too, read THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT first.