Thomas Brodie-Sangster became a better chess player thanks to The Queen's Gambit

Thomas Brodie-Sangster became a better chess player after starring in hit Netflix show The Queen's Gambit.

The actor stars as Benny Watts in the miniseries, which has exponentially increased the popularity of the game of chess. In an interview with Chess.com about his role in the show, Thomas admitted that learning about the game for his part meant he learned how to play properly in real life.

"I did (become a better player)! And I even learned a couple of openings, which are completely gone now," Thomas recalled.

"But at the moment, yeah, we were playing with some great players and we were very much invested in that world. And I was excited by it, I loved it!" the 30-year-old went on.

"I saw it as, you know, it's a beautiful game that's been played for hundreds and hundreds of years, and it's infinitely complicated," he explained.

"The knowledge that you have to understand and the memory of each game that's been played in the past, and then kind of put that into a reflection of what you need to do in front of your board," he mused, concluding: "And it's just moving bits of wood around a board, that's all it is, but I learned the beauty of it. That's what I would say."

The Queen's Gambit, also starring Anya Taylor-Joy, is available to watch on Netflix now.