PC Gamer recently interviewed former world chess champion Garry Kasparov as part of the launch of his new website, Kasparovchess. Kasparov recently served as a consultant for the Netflix hit The Queen's Gambit. The series has garnered attention for the quality of its chess, including high-level play and adaptations of historical games. He can probably take most of the credit for that, but as we have discovered, he could have played an even larger role.

PC Gamer: What does the success of the Queen's Gambit tell you?

Garry Kasparov: What has happened recently after the phenomenal success of The Queen's Gambit shows that the passion for chess is still there. Unlike other games, chess has survived for about 1,500 years. And the game has always adapted to modern demands. We are living in a time when the unique value of chess has been rediscovered, and there is no better time to launch Kasparov Chess.

And thanks to the Queen's Gambit, some of the negatives associated with the potential impact of chess and the negative effects on mental stability associated with Fischer and other stories have been washed away thanks to Beth Harmon's success story. And now, I think people are looking at chess as a potential tool to help with educational reform. So chess is somehow picking up again.

You were a consultant for this program, and one of the things that impressed me is that a lot of chess programs have problems with actual chess. But this program was true to the experience of playing in competitions and tournaments, just faster for obvious reasons. Is that your influence?

Exactly. That's exactly what I did. But director Scott Frank realized he could do something completely different. The book was written in 1983 and several attempts were made to adapt it to film, all of which failed. Scott himself was one of those who tried many years ago, and he told me that he realized that two or three hours was not good enough. A proper chess game needs more time to develop the characters, and it was probably a coincidence that he actually succeeded in convincing Netflix to make it into a series [laughs].

So when did you get involved and what was the offer?

When I first met (Scott Frank), (author) Bruce Pandolfini organized a meeting at a restaurant in New York and he suggested I play the role of Vasily Borgov. I even suggested to my wife that we do it together and she could play Borgov's wife (laughs). It was impossible for me to stay on the set for two or three months.

So I suggested that I play the role of the consultant instead. For one thing, Scott wanted to show real chess, so I would ensure that the chess was real. Because Scott wanted to show real chess. He recognized that many chess films suffer from a lack of authenticity. Because the climax of the series, the final game, takes place in Moscow, before Beth Harmon meets Borgov.

I made many suggestions and additions. For example, I added a KGB agent who follows (Borgov) and some dialogue. I was also very happy to see actors Anya (Taylor-Joy) and Marcin (Drochinski) move and look like real players. Marcin told me that he watched me play chess for hours to make sure that every move on the board was real.

Were there any mistakes?

There were a few mistakes. In the last game, there is a demonstration board with just one line pushed, but if you look carefully at the pieces, that is the wrong position. White's bishop and queen have been moved: from d3 and e3 to c3 and d3. Someone found some of the books on Benny's bookshelf, which are actually from the 70s, and this all happened in the 60s.

But the best part, actually the best part, was a comment from one of my friends who was looking very carefully to find mistakes [laughs]. He said, "And there is a portrait of (former Soviet leader Leonid) Brezhnev there, but it's a much older Brezhnev.

They made you a comrade.

[laughs] They did.

PC Gamer spoke with Garry Kasparov for the launch of his new chess site, Kasparovchess.com. The chat will be continued later.