Movie portrayals of academia are invariably cringeworthy. Most movies usually get away with that as long as academia is not the main character, which it rarely is.
The Queen's Gambit achieves the near-impossible by conveying the spirit of academia, through the metaphor of chess. Anya Taylor-Joy's genius is so intense that it not only makes one feel what it is like to be a woman, a chess player, or a chic dress but also makes one desire to be all of those things.
