Director appointed for Bobby Fischer biopic

Universal has reportedly appointed Last King of Scotland director Kevin Macdonald to shoot Bobby Fischer Goes To War, the story of the troubled chess grandmaster's 1972 world championship match with Boris Spassky.

Industry magazine Variety says the film's script has been adapted by Captain Corelli's Mandolin writer Shawn Slovo from the book by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.

Bobby Fischer was a prodigious yet often erratic talent, who defeated Spassky in Reykjavik to become the only American to ever win the World Chess Championship.

The match itself, which took place at the height of the Cold War, received worldwide attention and was fraught with controversy, threats of boycott and walk-outs.

Despite often disappearing from public view for years at a time, Fischer remained a well known, if divisive, figure. In 1992, he defied UN sanctions against Serbia to play a re-match there against Spassky. He died in January.

Kevin Macdonald's previous directing credits include the documentaries Touching The Void and One Day in September, which won him an Oscar in 1999.

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