Heath Ledger

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glimmung
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2000 12:37 am
Location: west coast,USA

Heath Ledger

Post by glimmung » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:46 pm

Unfortunately this young man died prematurely but I just read today that he was trying to get his GM title just before his death. Who knew?

G

mic
Posts: 134
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:31 pm

didn't know that!!!??

Post by mic » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:50 pm

he was my favorite actor...I especially liked him in A Knights Tale...he will be missed.
enjoyed chess for thirty years...have lots of books and mags but never time to study. Maybe when I retire...chess strength has gone done ratings are unrealistic

langelli
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:29 am

Post by langelli » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:09 pm

I didn't know he played. Was he close to being a GM? Does anybody know how many living GMs there are?

energy
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Grandmasters

Post by energy » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:36 am

langelli wrote:I didn't know he played. Was he close to being a GM? Does anybody know how many living GMs there are?
According to this page:
http://www.fide.com/ratings/topfed.phtml

it's currently 1109 active grandmasters.

And Heath Ledger was no GM, nor close to be one. For example, he had no FIDE rating:
http://www.fide.com/ratings/seek.phtml? ... r&offset=0

He was hooked on playing chess though, or so it's claimed:
http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/2 ... layer.html
Nils

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glimmung
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Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2000 12:37 am
Location: west coast,USA

source=LA Times

Post by glimmung » Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:07 am

Here is the quote that I was referring to in my original post:

"For the last year, Ledger also had been gearing up for his directorial debut, working with veteran screenwriter Allan Scott on an adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel "The Queen's Gambit," about an orphan girl who becomes a chess prodigy. Scott said they recently offered the part to "Juno" star Ellen Page.

"The movie is about chess, and what is a little known fact is that Heath was very close to being on the grandmaster level," said Scott, who met and spoke to the actor frequently over the last year in New York and London. "He was a chess whiz, and he intended to get his grandmaster rating before he started shooting the picture."
-LA Times article dated 1/25

langelli
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Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:29 am

Post by langelli » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:58 pm

glimmung, Nils (energy) is right. Ledger was not close to being a GM. I looked around the internet and learned he was a solid playher who played every day, but wasn't rated. From the info I gathered I think if he played here at net-chess he would probably be around a 2000-2200 player. A good solid player, but no where near a grandmasters skill level. I'm not sure the info I gathered is accurate, but it's what I found. If anyone out there knows for sure please share what you know.

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