Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Beth and Alma travel to Cincinnati, where her Kentucky title means the tournament organisers already recognise her. Beth wins again, and Alma begins taking a commission for arranging their trips. They continue travelling together, with Alma inventing excuses for Beth's school absences. Their shared routine brings them closer and makes chess a source of income. A magazine interview follows, but Beth dislikes the resulting article's interest in her being a girl rather than the way she actually plays the game.
The attention changes her standing at school enough to earn an invitation to a girls' party. Beth finds the conversation about boys uninteresting and leaves, taking alcohol with her. By the Las Vegas tournament, she is drinking alongside Alma. She also meets Townes again, now working as a reporter. He invites her to his hotel room for photographs and chess, but Roger's arrival interrupts their private moment. Beth leaves disappointed and returns to thinking about the competition and the players she must face.
U.S. champion Benny Watts unsettles Beth before their match by identifying a mistake in her earlier victory over Beltik. She checks the position herself and realises he is right: she could have lost that game. Against Benny, her attempt to attack his weaknesses fails when he forces an exchange of queens. Beth resigns, furious at being unable to read him. Although she still receives prize money, the defeat occupies her far more than the earnings as she and Alma leave Las Vegas together.