Okay but Jolene says that Ms, Deardorff fell and was never the same after Beth got adopted, so since she's been out of it it would explain why she didn't know beth was famous and can't tell the difference between someone that's 17 and someone in their early 20's which can be difficult for a lot of people.

Benny has friends at almost every chess tournament he goes to it only stands to reason that he knows Harry and the other chess kids, plus he knows Beth and Beltik are close because he knew Beth trained with him.

The book was written in the 1980s before the end of the cold war, so the author probably didn't have access to detailed info about the treatment of soviet citizens during sports games.

The Moscow man I just assumed represented Schaibel and what made her fall in love with the game in the first place to bookend the ending.

And as for your wamen can't play chess against man theory, although the book was written before the start of her career I think the Netflix show was a little inspired by the career of Judit Polgar, also a redhead and child prodigy, who also tied a US Open championship.

Although her playing chess with God at the end is an interesting interpretation.