I finished it and liked it a lot. I am not a chess player and I became very interested in how the game was played. I would not be able to keep up with the need to plan moves ahead and hope that your adversary will react in a certain way so that you could respond in a certain way. The main character I found fascinating and her ability to develop even though she had a lot going against her. And of course her genius made her very attractive to others. However I found that it had some small problems as it went along. There was a certain repetitiveness to many of the scenes but I could get over that. It is certainly worth watching. P.S. I don't think I am giving anything away but the photographer is gay, right? That was what the early scene between him, her, and the gentleman who invited him "down to the pool" led me to believe.