Dan
Heisman started playing tournament chess at 16
and was soon on the U.S. Chess Federation's “Top
25 Under Age 21” list. He attended Caltech and
Penn State University, receiving a Master's degree
in Engineering Science. At Penn State from 1969-1971
he was the captain and first board for the chess
team under IM Donald Byrne. In 1972 he teamed
with Byrne and Penn State players to win the
U.S. Team Championship. In 1973 Mr. Heisman won
the Philadelphia Closed Invitational Championship
ahead of (now) IM Tim Taylor, FM Boris Baczynskyj,
and others. In 1977 he won the Philadelphia Open
Championship. At the time of this writing Mr.
Heisman has a FIDE rating of 2285. Mr. Heisman
started as a tournament director during the 1970's
and is currently a USCF Senior Tournament Director.
He served as President of Chaturanga Chess
Club and the Huntingdon Valley Chess Society
Juniors, and is the Vice President of the Main
Line Chess Club. Mr. Heisman also has his
own club, the Heisman's Chess Trophies Instructional
Chess Club.
Since 1996 Mr. Heisman has been a full-time
chess instructor and author. Among his students
were Danny Benjamin, who achieved the national
master ranking at age 13, Steven Kendrex, the
1993-1994 National Kindergarten Champion, and
Matthew Traldi, who became a master at 12 and
was the 2000 US Cadet (U-16) Champion. He also
has worked with the Philadelphia Chess-In-Schools
program, served as the Scholastic Chess Coordinator
for Pennsylvania, and now is the Coordinator
for SE PA. Mr. Heisman's chess books are Elements of
Positional Evaluation, now in its third
printing, The Improving Annotator, Everyone's
2nd Chess Book, The Traxler Counterattack,
The Computer Analyzes the Fried Liver/Lolli,
A Parent's Guide to Chess, Looking for Trouble and,
coming in 2004/2005: a book on Beginning Tactics.
He has also written many articles for various
sources, including Chess Life and the
web magazine Chess Café at www.chesscafe.com.
In 1979, Mr. Heisman was voted “The Outstanding
Local Chess Columnist” by the Chess Journalists
of America (CJA) for his column in the Bucks
County (PA) Courier Times. In 2002
the CJA voted him three 1st-place
awards and one honorable mention, including “Best
Instruction” for his Novice Nook column; in
2003 it was runner-up. In 2002 he began his
chess talk radio show, “The Renaissance Man” for www.chess.fm,
which aired on Monday evenings until 2004.
He is a member of the International Computer
Chess Association, and worked at both the Kasparov
vs. Deep Blue matches, appearing on Good
Morning America, CNN, and local
television, as well as being quoted in the New
York Times. You can e-mail him at danheisman@comcast.net, find him on
the ICC where he teaches as Phillytutor, or visit
his web site at http://www.danheisman.com. Mr. Heisman
currently lives with his son Delen, wife Shelly,
and dogs Brynn and Patches in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
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