CM Dan Heisman

NM and CM Dan Heisman has been a full-time chess coach and author since 1996. He has an extensive web site with a wealth of information on chess and chess improvement: www.danheisman.com.

Mr. Heisman's 14 chess books include Elements of Positional Evaluation, Everyone's 2nd Chess Book, A Parent’s Guide to Chess, Looking for Trouble, Back to Basics: Tactics, The Improving Chess Thinker, A Guide to Chess Improvement, The Improving Annotator, The World’s Most Instructive Amateur Game Book, Is Your Move Safe?, Maximize Your Chess Potential, and Can I Take It?.

Mr. Heisman’s Novice Nook column at Chess Café won the award for Outstanding Column in any Media three times and has been selected six times for Best Instruction. In 2010 the Chess Journalists of America voted him as Chess Journalist of the Year. Mr. Heisman’s question and answer show aired weekly on the Internet Chess Club’s (ICC) Chess.FM radio station from 2001 thru 2008. A similar web television show “Q&A with Coach Heisman” ran on Chess.com TV. Mr. Heisman has recorded 400 instructional videos for the ICC and over 400 for his Youtube channel www.youtube.com/c/danheismanchess (one one the award for "Best Instruction" in 2021, 2023, and 2025). On Twitter (@danheisman) he has been doing his award-winning “Chess Tip of the Day” since 2011.

He was also a long-time USCF Senior Tournament Director and organizer. He worked at both Kasparov-Deep Blue matches in the 1990s.

Mr. Heisman holds the titles of National Master from the US Chess Federation (USCF) and Candidate Master from FIDE, the international chess federation.

In 1972 his team, led by IM Donald Byrne, won the U.S. Amateur Team Championship. In 1973 Mr. Heisman won the Philadelphia Closed Invitational Championship and in 1971 and 1976 the Philadelphia Open Championships.

Mr. Heisman started teaching chess in the 1970s but became a full-time chess instructor in 1996. He has taught over 1,000 students privately at his home & via the internet.

Mr. Heisman has taught players of all ages and levels. While many of his students are intermediate adults, many of his younger students have achieved excellent results: SM Dan Yeager won the US High School Championship and the Denker Championship. NM Matt Traldi was US Co-Cadet Champion. NM Dan Benjamin was a rival of Josh Waitzkin and now teaches Economics at UCLA. Radio personality Howard Stern was one of his many students as was Sheik Mohammed from the UAE.

Mr. Heisman also spent some time coaching the Chess in Schools program.

Mr. Heisman attended Caltech and Penn State, receiving a Master’s degree in Engineering Science. He worked as a software manager and Quality Assurance Manager for Intermetrics and other software firms until 1996. He has been a long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research and plays other games such as backgammon, Castle Clash, and Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Mr. Heisman started two charitable funds at the Philadelphia Foundation: the Holly Heisman Fund for women in need and the Dan Heisman Chess Support Fund to support scholastic chess.

Mr. Heisman specializes in chess skills such as thought process, error identification and mitigation, and time management. As a player, Mr. Heisman had an aggressive style, leading to his suggestion "Always play with confidence, aggression, and respect for your opponent's moves and ideas. He also specializes in helping players understand how to play differently when they are way ahead or behind.

Dan primarily teaches over the internet using Skype or Zoom (with "share screen"). His students can play on any server such as LiChess - he recently started using LiChess "Studies". He also gives lessons live at his home outside Philadelphia, PA, USA.

While Dan has to vary his methods depending on student capabilities and needs, he primarily uses the Socratic method of questioning. He has a library of hundreds of special chess puzzles designed to instruct about a variety of chess ideas.

Most lessons consist of either: 1) Review of students' game, 2) Answering students' questions about any chess subject, 3) Doing appropriate and diagnostic puzzles, and 4) Specialized chess exercises like the famous deGroot "think out loud" exercise.

Before a first lesson, Dan gives access to several articles he wrote about teaching and learning chess, so the student is prepared to do "The Four Homeworks" (at a pace they are comfortable), bring games and questions to lessons, and find and play appropriate opponents to help maximize their improvement.

The Four Homeworks include:
* Tactical and other puzzles of the appropriate level,
* Instructive Anthology Game books (lower rated players start with Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev)
* Playing slow (and sometimes augmented with fast) games vs appropriate opponents, and
* Other material such as videos, columns, or books on other needed chess subjects