It seems incomprehensible that it took nearly 40 years to bring such an amazing story to life onscreen, and in fact, there have been several attempts to do so over the years: first, with a script by author, journalist, and screenwriter Jesse Kornbluth, and later, with Heath Ledger (who was battling addiction and was a chess whiz himself) preparing to begin production as director and star right before his untimely death in 2008. It wasn't until 2019, more than three decades after the novel was published, that Netflix finally saved the adaptation from development hell, with Scott Frank writing, directing, and executive producing. Allan Scott, who has owned the film rights to