I loveThe Queen’s Gambit.This is true even though I don’t play chess — and most of the scenes featuring chess moves and chess strategy went over my head.
I may not be a chess person, but there is another ancient strategic board game that I always loved: backgammon. Or, as it’s known in my nativeHebrew,shesh besh.
It’s s true that chess is a very popular game among Jews — readour Jewish facts aboutThe Queen’s Gambitfor more on that. But backgammon is the game of theIsraelipeople. It is played inmarkets, onarmy bases, and even at teen sleepovers. So it’s not surprising that and Israeli comedian chose to make aQueen’s Gambitparody — substituting the 64 squares of a chessboard for the 24 triangles of asesh beshboard.
“The Queen of Shesh Besh,” is a trailer that spoofs the drama, intrigue, and style ofThe Queens Gambit. It stars the hilarious and whip-smart Lea Lev, who has performed stand-up in viral videos, co-hosted radio shows, and is the star and co-creator of the Israeli TV showInto the Night. The 25-year-old also looks quite a bit like Anya Taylor-Joy, the British actress who plays Beth Harmon in the Netflix hit.
Lev is assisted by other truly funny actors — my favorite is her young cowboy playmate (there to poke fun at Thomas Brodie-Sangster, whoplayed the iconic young SaminLove Actually,and who stars as a cowboy-hat-wearing chess prodigy in the series) — who insists that he’s a decade older than her.
In ths short spoof trailer, Lev — who as obsessed withshesh beshas Beth is with chess — “sees” a backgammon board on the ceiling, instead of a chessboard; instead of alcohol and pills, she’s addicted to khat juice, a super Israeli phenomenon. (Khat is a leaf that’s popularly chewed as a stimulant across East Africa and the Middle East. In Israel, khat juice — a mixture of grapefruit juice, khat, and arak — was a popular party drink before being outlawed in 2012, though an illicit industry stillthrives.)
But, we digress. Basically, all you need to know is that Lev’s Beth Harmon imitation is A+, and the production value of this video is just so great. Truly, this makes me want to rewatchThe Queens Gambitand break out mysesh beshboard!
Watch it below — and don’t forget to turn on close captioning for English subtitles:
