Borgov's way of admitting defeat

I think so too. The gesture basically meant "Today, you are the most powerful. You are the Queen". I think people just try to see something more than there really is.

That being said, IF there is to be a sequel in the future (I sincerely hope there won't be), I guess they could make an intrigue out of it. With like.. flashbacks with this scene and how it was indeed a signal. They could use that and stretch it. But I'm sure they didn't think it that way when they made the show.

The agent telling Beth to be cautious about that was to help set that cold war mood and why he was chaperoning her (I'm guessing they tried to make it clearer for younger people who wouldn't get the whole surveillance/paranoia thing). That's all.

no GM would ever fucking hug another IM (?) over a game of chess.
this sucked in both book, and TV.

should've stuck to a normal handshake..

I'm inclined to think it was just a theatrical flourish to finish Beth's story off in style. If it had been more realistic Borgov would simply have shaken her hand and stood up and applauded her win along with the audience. But that wouldn't have made for a sufficiently grand scene to end with.

I thought he was handing over a message saying he wanted to DEFECT.