Dan Heisman (born July 8, 1950) is a

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...

National Master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pre ...

, author and instructor.

Education

Heisman graduated from Hatboro-Horsham High School in Pennsylvania as the co-valedictorian in 1968, and was elected to the school's Hall of Fame in 2007. He attended

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

and transferred to Penn State in 1969. In 1971 Heisman graduated at the top of his class earning a B.S. in Mathematics, and in 1983, again at the top of his class with a 4.0 G.P.A., received his master's degree in Engineering, both from

The Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

Early career

Heisman began his career as an engineer and worked in that capacity with several organizations, including the Naval Air Development Center and Intermetrics, Inc. Later, Heisman became a

Registered Investment Adviser A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Inve ...

in Pennsylvania. He has been a full-time chess instructor and author since 1996.

Chess career

Heisman is the two-time Open

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

champion of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(1973 and 1976), and the Philadelphia Invitational Chess Champion (1973). His

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

team won the U.S. Amateur Team Championship in 1972. He is rated over 2200 by both the United States Chess Federation and

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

, but is currently inactive as a tournament player. Heisman is a member of the International Computer Games Association and worked at both

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov was a pair of six-game chess matches between the world chess champion Garry Kasparov and an IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue. The first match was played in Philadelphia in 1996 and won by Kasparov by 4–2. A ...

matches (1996 and 1997). Heisman authors the award-winning Novice Nook column, aimed at improving adults, for the popular

Chess Cafe ChessCafe.com is a website that publishes endgame studies, book reviews and other articles related to chess on a weekly basis. It was founded in 1996 by Hanon Russell, and is well known as a repository of articles about chess and its history. It ...

Web site A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipe ...

. He has also written ten books on chess, including ''Elements of Positional Chess Evaluation'', ''Everyone's 2nd Chess Book'', and ''Looking for Trouble''. His most recent book, ''Is Your Move Safe'', won the Chess Journalists of America's 2016 Best Instructional Book. Heisman is well known throughout the Philadelphia chess scene. His chess activities include promoting local chess, hosting a chess radio show "Ask the Renaissance Man" on ICC Webcast, and organizing events like the Philadelphia Championship and Philadelphia Junior Championship. He is currently a member of the

Main Line Chess Club Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany *Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries *' ...

and the SE Scholastic Coordinator for the

Pennsylvania State Chess Federation The Pennsylvania State Chess Federation (PSCF) is the official Pennsylvania affiliate of the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). PSCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. PSCF sponsors about 20 annual state championship events, held thr ...

. He maintains an extensive web page which provides information on Philadelphia area chess and many articles on chess improvement. Heisman is a chess tutor and has taught radio DJ

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

. He helped mentor the 2007-08 National High School champion Dan Yeager, who attended his old high school (Hatboro-Horsham High School).

Personal life

Heisman is related to

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

, the football coach who left the endowment for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. Dan Heisman's paternal great-grandfather, Aaron, was John Heisman's first cousin. Heisman is married to Shelly Hahn. His first wife, Susan "Holly" Hollis Bloom Heisman, died of breast cancer in 1994; they had one son, Delen, a graduate of

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People * Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie *Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyt ...

University. Heisman was born in

Willow Grove, Pennsylvania Willow Grove is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. A community in Philadelphia's northern suburbs, the population was 15,726 at the 2010 census. It is located in Upper Dublin Township, Abington To ...

in 1950 and currently lives in

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The community was named in 1691 for Dr. ...

. He is a member of the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

and had a baseball newsletter, "Baseball's Active Leaders". His hobbies include

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

, science fiction, collecting comic books, and following the Philadelphia sports teams.

Books

* * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

*
Dan Heisman personal siteChess CafePA State Chess FederationChess.com/ danheisman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heisman, Dan 1950 births Living people American chess players American chess writers American male non-fiction writers Penn State College of Engineering alumni People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania California Institute of Technology alumni