>for a minute I was thinking the russians brought the model in
>to throw Elizabeth off her game, it just all seemed a little
>too convenient.

She was introduced as having been hanging around Benny who was the current US champion. Keep in mind the KGB had been watching Beth and getting intel on her. The model girl didn't know where'd she be from week to week, then randomly showed up in Paris when Beth as there and about to play the Russian dude, and then completely threw Beth off her game getting her back drinking and keeping her out late. On top of that before the final match the photographer dude showed up and even joked that the Russians pushed through his media credentials so he could throw her off.

They didn't implicitly state it or show it with the model, and it's complicated with the fact that the actual Russian chess players were so gracious when Beth won in the end. But I'm pretty sure that model was supposed to have been planted by the KGB/Russian government.