A wide East Berlin boulevard lined with tall tiled apartment blocks in 1962, a few cars on the road — Karl-Marx-Allee looking towards Strausberger Platz in 1962 (Fortepan / Nagy Gyula). Fortepan — ID 50924: Adományozó/Donor: Nagy Gyula. · CC BY-SA 3.0

Berlin as Kentucky, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Paris and Moscow · Netflix, 2020

The Queen’s Gambit

An orphan, a board and a world tour, nearly all of it filmed in one city. Seal each city in an envelope and open it here.

Where this comes from

Anya Taylor-Joy, Beth Harmon, at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards in January 2019, months before filming began. Patrick Lovell · CC BY-SA 2.0
Anya Taylor-Joy
Beth Harmon · 2019
Marielle Heller, Alma Wheatley, at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019, during filming. GabboT · CC BY-SA 2.0
Marielle Heller
Alma Wheatley · 2019
Bill Camp, Mr Shaibel, at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018. Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bill Camp
Mr Shaibel · 2018
Garry Kasparov, a chess consultant on the series, in Oslo in May 2018. Tore Sætre · CC BY-SA 4.0
Garry Kasparov
Chess consultant · 2018

Episode 6 is called Adjournment

Seal the move.

At an adjournment the player to move writes the move on the scoresheet without playing it; the scoresheets go into an envelope, which is sealed and kept by the arbiter, who opens it and plays the move when the game resumes. Seven envelopes, each addressed to a city in the story. Seal one, then open it when play resumes.

Where this comes from

Lexington, Kentucky: the game stops here for the night. Write your move on the scoresheet, but don’t play it.

Friedrichstadt-Palast, Friedrichstraße

Ten hours.

The EUFCN entry says the Friedrichstadt-Palast became the Aztec Palace Hotel, where the Mexico City tournament takes place. The crew had one day there: the theatre was turned into a Mexican hotel and back within 10 hours.

Where this comes from

Morning: a Berlin revue-theatre foyer. You have ten hours.

A theatre foyer with coloured glass panels and a curving balcony — The foyer of the Friedrichstadt-Palast, 2012. FriedrichstadtPalast · CC BY-SA 3.0

visitBerlin names the foyer as a filming place. The present building opened on 27 April 1984; the theatre calls it the GDR’s last major grand construction project.

Where this comes from

Schulzendorf, Brandenburg, and Rummelsburg

Kentucky, east of Berlin.

A grand pale manor house with a tower behind a fence and trees — Schloss Schulzendorf from the front, 2010. Kuli · CC0

The Methuen Home

ChessBase and Wikipedia say Schloss Schulzendorf is the Methuen Home, the orphanage where Beth grows up, in the outdoor scenes.

The orphanage gives the girls tranquilliser pills every day; Beth’s dependence on them, and later on drink, is a central thread of the series.

Moritz Israel built the house after buying the estate in 1889 and gave it to his son Richard as a wedding present. Richard Israel was dispossessed in 1939 and deported to Theresienstadt, where he died in 1943; the house went back to the family’s descendants in 1993.

An unkept private house at the centre of the village: see it from the street and do not go in.

Where this comes from

Spandau, Westend, Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Zehlendorf

The hotels.

The story checks into four cities. The rooms are town halls, a ballroom, a 1911 hotel that barely opened and a college.

Cincinnati

A large town hall with a tall square clock tower — Rathaus Spandau, Carl-Schurz-Straße, August 2017. Gunnar Klack · CC BY-SA 4.0

Rathaus Spandau

ChessBase says Rathaus Spandau was used for the hotel of the Cincinnati open.

Heinrich Reinhardt and Georg Süßenguth designed it after a 1908 competition; it opened on 15 September 1913.

A tall stone facade with arched windows on a city street — The Meistersaal building, Köthener Straße 38, 2012. Jörg Zägel · CC BY-SA 3.0

Meistersaal and Hansa Studios

visitBerlin says the Hansa sound studio supplied the backdrop for a chess tournament.

The Meistersaal has been part of Berlin’s music history since 1913; its foyer is the entrance hall of the Hansa Studios.

Where this comes from

Berlin Music Tours

Hansa Studios tour

Köthener Straße 38, Kreuzberg · Public tours on selected dates · groups on request

Three to four hours inside the Hansa Studios with the long-time guide Thilo Schmied: Studio One, the Meistersaal (once Studio Two) and the Emil Berliner Studios, with a presentation in the Meistersaal. Meet outside Köthener Straße 38.

See tour dates

Las Vegas

A curved 1950s pavilion with tall windows in front of a lattice radio tower — The Palais am Funkturm on the Messe Berlin grounds, May 2020. Fridolin freudenfett · CC BY-SA 4.0

Palais am Funkturm

The EUFCN entry says the Palais am Funkturm became the Hotel Mariposa in Las Vegas.

Messe Berlin calls it the city’s most delightful ballroom, with a terrace of pools and fountains.

Where this comes from

Paris

A long, grand stone building on a tree-lined boulevard — Haus Cumberland, Kurfürstendamm 193–194, 2013. Fridolin freudenfett (Peter Kuley) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Haus Cumberland

The EUFCN entry says Haus Cumberland, built as a hotel in 1911, became Beth’s Paris hotel.

Robert Leibnitz, architect of the old Hotel Adlon, built it in 1911–12; it had only a short life as a luxury hotel.

A domed neo-baroque museum rising from the river at dawn — The Bode-Museum at the tip of Museum Island, August 2019. Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Bode-Museum

ChessBase says the Bode-Museum played a café in Paris.

Its collections include sculpture and painting from the 13th to the 18th century, coins and medals, and late antique and Byzantine art.

Where this comes from

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Bode-Museum

Museum Island, Mitte · Tue–Fri 10:00–17:00 (Thu to 20:00) · Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00 · closed Mondays

The series’ Paris café, and a museum of sculpture, painting, coins and Byzantine art at the tip of Museum Island.

Plan a visit

Ohio

A brick and stucco institutional building behind trees — Teltower Damm 118, the Evangelische Hochschule Berlin, 2016. Bodo Kubrak · CC BY-SA 4.0

Evangelische Hochschule Berlin

ChessBase says the hall of the 1967 US Championship in Ohio was filmed at the Evangelische Hochschule Berlin in Zehlendorf.

The college is a Protestant university of applied sciences with a main building, an Audimax and a refectory.

Where this comes from

Karl-Marx-Allee, Mitte and Friedrichshain

Moscow on one street.

visitBerlin says Karl-Marx-Allee stood in for Moscow, where Beth ends up running through the streets. It had already played Moscow before: visitBerlin points to the Bourne films with Matt Damon.

The hotel front: Karl-Marx-Allee, Strausberger Platz to Frankfurter Tor, Friedrichshain.

A fountain in front of a tall pale apartment block with a tower on Strausberger Platz — Strausberger Platz on Karl-Marx-Allee, 2011. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0

Karl-Marx-Allee

visitBerlin says Karl-Marx-Allee stood in for Moscow, where Beth ends up running through the streets.

ChessBase says the front of Beth’s Moscow hotel is one of the avenue’s Stalinist-era apartment blocks.

The street was called Stalinallee until late 1961; its second stretch, from Strausberger Platz to Alexanderplatz, was built from 1959 to 1965.

It had already played Moscow before: visitBerlin points to the Bourne films with Matt Damon.

A public boulevard: walk it from Strausberger Platz (U5) east to Frankfurter Tor. Free, always open.

Where this comes from

Altes Stadthaus, Klosterstraße

The Bärensaal.

A large stone civic building with a domed tower under a blue sky — The Altes Stadthaus, home of the Bärensaal, 2022. The hall is inside. Flocci Nivis · CC BY 4.0

The European Film Commissions Network says the Bärensaal in the Altes Stadthaus stood in for the 1968 Moscow championship. ChessBase says the Moscow tournament scenes, Beth against Borgov, were filmed in the Bärensaal.

The final game is adjourned after forty moves.

Ludwig Hoffmann designed the building, put up from 1902 to 1911 as an extension to the Red Town Hall. It was once the seat of the GDR Council of Ministers and now houses the Senate Department for the Interior.

Garry Kasparov in a dark jacket at a press conference — Garry Kasparov, a chess consultant on the series, in Oslo in May 2018. Tore Sætre · CC BY-SA 4.0

Garry Kasparov and Bruce Pandolfini are the series’ chess consultants; Pandolfini and others devise several hundred positions.

The series wins eleven Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.

A government building: see it from Klosterstraße and Jüdenstraße. The hall inside is not open to visitors.

Where this comes from

Seven cities, one city.
Where it all is now.

Where it is now

13 places in four parts of Berlin to visit. Schloss Schulzendorf in Brandenburg is named but not pinned: it is privately owned and unkept. Several others are working buildings, a school, a college, a government office, an events hall: see those from the street. The Ontario exteriors are left off the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public boulevard: walk it from Strausberger Platz (U5) east to Frankfurter Tor. Free, always open.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working cinema; the Panorama Bar is on the first floor, reached by lift. See Yorck’s programme for screenings.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A small public garden by U5 Weberwiese, with pergolas and benches. Free.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working second-hand department store at the east end of the avenue; check its hours before you go.

Strausberger Platz on Karl-Marx-Allee, 2011. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0
Strausberger Platz to Frankfurter Tor, Friedrichshain
Karl-Marx-Allee
visitBerlin says Karl-Marx-Allee stood in for Moscow, where Beth ends up running through the streets.
A public boulevard: walk it from Strausberger Platz (U5) east to Frankfurter Tor. Free, always open.
Where this comes from
Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee at dusk, 2016. ndiggity · CC BY-SA 4.0
Karl-Marx-Allee 33, Mitte
Kino International
ChessBase says the Panorama Bar of Kino International is the restaurant of Beth’s Moscow hotel.
A working cinema; the Panorama Bar is on the first floor, reached by lift. See Yorck’s programme for screenings.
Where this comes from
The rose garden on Karl-Marx-Allee with its pergola, April 2020. Auto1234 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Karl-Marx-Allee 103, Friedrichshain
The rose garden on Karl-Marx-Allee
ChessBase says the series’ final scene was filmed in the rose garden on Karl-Marx-Allee.
A small public garden by U5 Weberwiese, with pergolas and benches. Free.
Where this comes from
The domed towers of Frankfurter Tor, where the Humana store stands, 2011. The shop itself is not shown. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0
Frankfurter Tor 3, Friedrichshain
Humana at Frankfurter Tor
visitBerlin says the Humana second-hand and vintage store at Frankfurter Tor was the shop where Beth gets new clothes.
A working second-hand department store at the east end of the avenue; check its hours before you go.
Where this comes from

Stay

A hotel by the same architect.

The Adlon on Pariser Platz; its first building was by the man who built the Paris hotel.

Kempinski

Hotel Adlon Kempinski

Pariser Platz, Mitte

Five stars facing the Brandenburg Gate, 385 rooms and suites. The first Adlon was designed by Robert Leibnitz, who also built Haus Cumberland, the series’ Paris hotel (pictured).

See the hotel

Go there

A studio, a museum, a cinema.

Inside Hansa with a guide, the Bode-Museum, a film at Kino International, and marketplace tours of the avenue and Berlin’s film places.

Berlin Music Tours

Hansa Studios tour

Köthener Straße 38, Kreuzberg · Public tours on selected dates · groups on request

Three to four hours inside the Hansa Studios with the long-time guide Thilo Schmied: Studio One, the Meistersaal (once Studio Two) and the Emil Berliner Studios, with a presentation in the Meistersaal. Meet outside Köthener Straße 38.

See tour dates

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Bode-Museum

Museum Island, Mitte · Tue–Fri 10:00–17:00 (Thu to 20:00) · Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00 · closed Mondays

The series’ Paris café, and a museum of sculpture, painting, coins and Byzantine art at the tip of Museum Island.

Plan a visit

Yorck Kinos

A film at Kino International

Karl-Marx-Allee 33, Mitte · Screenings listed from 20 October 2026

The 1963 cinema on Karl-Marx-Allee, back after its renovation, with the Panorama Bar upstairs that played the Moscow hotel restaurant.

See the programme

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Karl-Marx-Allee and East Berlin tours

Friedrichshain and Mitte

Live marketplace results for walks along Karl-Marx-Allee and through East Berlin. None is a Queen’s Gambit tour as such; check each route.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

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Berlin film location tours

Berlin

Live marketplace results for film-location tours of Berlin. Check each itinerary for the places on this page.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

A show in the Aztec Palace.

The Friedrichstadt-Palast’s current Grand Show runs into July 2027.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

The novel, and an opening book.

Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel in two editions, and Bruce Pandolfini on openings.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

The Queen’s Gambit

Walter Tevis

The 1983 novel the series is made from, in Vintage’s 2020 edition.

Find the book

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

The Queen’s Gambit

Walter Tevis

The same novel in the Orion edition of 2016.

Find the book

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps

Bruce Pandolfini

By one of the series’ two chess consultants, Simon & Schuster, 1989.

Find the book

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

Play resumes.

Where this comes from

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources. A building is said to play a city only where visitBerlin, ChessBase or the European Film Commissions Network says so; the Ontario exteriors are mentioned but not mapped.

Search all places and Moments Current state Sort

14 of 14 places · 34 of 34 Moments

Karl-Marx-Allee
Strausberger Platz to Frankfurter Tor, Friedrichshain
- Berlin plays five cities
  Most of the series is shot in Berlin, which stands in for Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Mexico City, Moscow and Paris; filming begins in Cambridge, Ontario, in August 2019.
- Seven episodes
  The Queen’s Gambit is released on Netflix, seven episodes from Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel, written and directed by Scott Frank.
- Running in Moscow
  Beth runs through the streets of Moscow: Karl-Marx-Allee.
- The hotel front
  A Stalinist-era block on Karl-Marx-Allee is the front of the Moscow hotel.
- Stalinallee no more
  Stalinallee is renamed Karl-Marx-Allee.
- Eleven Emmys
  The series wins eleven Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.
Kino International
Karl-Marx-Allee 33, Mitte
- Dinner in Moscow
  The Panorama Bar of Kino International is the restaurant of the Moscow hotel.
- A cinema for the boulevard
  Kino International opens on Karl-Marx-Allee.
The rose garden on Karl-Marx-Allee
Karl-Marx-Allee 103, Friedrichshain
- The last scene
  The final scene of the series is filmed in the rose garden on Karl-Marx-Allee.
- Replanted
  Trainee gardeners restore the rose garden.
Humana at Frankfurter Tor
Frankfurter Tor 3, Friedrichshain
- New clothes
  Beth gets new clothes: the shop is Humana at Frankfurter Tor.
- Another show, same rails
  In Unorthodox, Esty buys her first pair of jeans in the same store.
The Bärensaal, Altes Stadthaus
Klosterstraße 47, Mitte
- Moscow, 1968
  The Bärensaal is the hall of the Moscow tournament, where Beth plays Borgov.
- Adjourned
  The final game is adjourned after forty moves.
- How a move is sealed
  At an adjournment the player to move writes the move on the scoresheet without playing it; the scoresheets go into an envelope, which is sealed and kept by the arbiter, who opens it and plays the move when the game resumes.
- Positions for the script
  Garry Kasparov and Bruce Pandolfini are the series’ chess consultants; Pandolfini and others devise several hundred positions.
- A second town hall
  Ludwig Hoffmann’s Altes Stadthaus is finished as an extension to the Red Town Hall.
Friedrichstadt-Palast
Friedrichstraße 107, Mitte
- The Aztec Palace
  The Friedrichstadt-Palast becomes the Aztec Palace Hotel in Mexico City, turned round in one day.
- The last grand building
  The Friedrichstadt-Palast opens on Friedrichstraße.
Bode-Museum
Am Kupfergraben, Museum Island
- A café in Paris
  The Bode-Museum plays a café in Paris.
- The Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum
  The museum opens on Museum Island.
Meistersaal and Hansa Studios
Köthener Straße 38, Kreuzberg
- The music hall
  The Meistersaal is part of the Cincinnati hotel, and the Hansa studio supplies a tournament backdrop.
- Bowie, Depeche Mode, U2
  David Bowie, Depeche Mode and U2 make music at the Hansa studio.
Haus Cumberland
Kurfürstendamm 193–194, Charlottenburg
- Paris
  Haus Cumberland is the Paris hotel, and the hall of the Paris tournament in episode six, Adjournment.
- A hotel that never quite was
  Robert Leibnitz builds Haus Cumberland as a boarding palace; it runs only briefly as a luxury hotel.
Palais am Funkturm
Hammarskjöldplatz, Messe Berlin, Westend
- Las Vegas
  The Palais am Funkturm becomes the Hotel Mariposa in Las Vegas.
Rathaus Spandau
Carl-Schurz-Straße 2–6, Spandau
- Cincinnati
  Rathaus Spandau is used for the hotel of the Cincinnati open.
- A town hall opens
  Spandau’s new town hall is opened.
Evangelische Hochschule Berlin
Teltower Damm 118–122, Zehlendorf
- Ohio, 1967
  The hall of the US Championship in Ohio is filmed at the Evangelische Hochschule Berlin.
Max-Taut-Schule
Fischerstraße 36, Rummelsburg
- Henry Clay High
  The gym of the Max-Taut-Schule is the tournament hall at Henry Clay High School, Lexington.
- Two gyms of seven
  Max Taut’s school is finished, with two of its seven planned gyms.
Schloss Schulzendorf
Schulzendorf, Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg
- The Methuen Home
  Schloss Schulzendorf is the outside of the Methuen Home, the Kentucky orphanage where Beth grows up.
- The pills
  The orphanage gives the girls tranquilliser pills every day; Beth’s dependence on them, and later on drink, is a central thread of the series.
- The Israel family’s house
  Moritz Israel builds the house and gives it to his son Richard; in 1939 Richard Israel is dispossessed.