When Beth played against Benny Watts, you get to see the first ten moves. The first seven moves are a transposition of Scheveningen Sicilian Defense, Sozin Variation with early ....b5 (ECO B87). The first six and a half moves are also the Najdorf Variation (B90), which was mentioned in Ep 1.1 and is named after Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, who was mentioned in this episode.
When Beth and Alma are drinking beer in the hotel room, the movie playing on TV in the background is "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946). The scene is with Barbara Stanwyck (Martha) and Van Heflin (Sam).
At 23:00, the camera follows Beth from outside the Mariposa hotel, through the lobby, up a curved staircase to a second floor landing where she meets Townes. The camera then leads them both along the balcony overlooking the lobby to the U.S. Open Championship Board where they stop. The shot ends at 25:03. At two minutes and three seconds, this is the longest tracking shot as well as the longest continuous take in the series.