| Jul-05-08 | | DiscoJew: to quote perfidious: <Some info on Charles Hertan: while he has been inactive for some years now, he last held a FIDE rating of 2395, and the title of FM. From a dozen or so games' experience on opposite sides of the board with him, he was a formidable opponent- one of the strongest players in New England in the mid-late 1980s.>
I just noticed he had an add on the site and was seeling a book on "forcing moves" so I searched him and he turns out to be a strong chap. Awsome! |
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| Jul-05-08 | | DiscoJew: oh and by the way, favorite Hertan game :Reshevsky vs Hertan 1-0 35 moves 1983 New Platz Quad D37 Queen's Gambit Declined Oh, and I bet he really could lay a Hertan on a guy. |
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| Jul-05-08 | | Strongest Force: I first met Charles Hertan when he was 10. We were paired to play each other one night at some swiss-tournament. I had a night job and had to be at work in 2 hours and therefore i had to beat Hertan quickly. I played as sharply as i could, sacked both of my knights, got back all of my material, and made young Hertan resign quickly. I made it to work with minutes to spare. Ten-years-later, Charlie told me he remembered that game very well! In chess-matters, kids grow-up fast in the NYC area. :) |
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| Oct-09-08 | | notyetagm: Does anyone know how to get in contact with FM Hertan? I am looking for someone to take lessons from. Thanks
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Oct-09-08
 | | chancho: <notyetagm> You could try here: http://www.charliehertanphotography... |
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Oct-09-08
| | chancho: Here's another picture of him, so the above photography link is definitely him: http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot... |
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Mar-30-09
 | | cu8sfan: OK, chesscafe.com elected his book <Forcing Chess Moves> Chess Book of the Year 2008. So I bought it and I think it's a rip-off. This is nothing but a tactics book. Yes, tactics books are great for improving your chess but all this hullabaloo about computer eyes... Hertan does not explain how to get them he just claims over and over again how computer eyes will find the most forcing moves and therefore solve the puzzle even though sometimes it's the second most forcing move, and sometimes the third... I learned everything there is about computer eyes in John Emms' Survival Guide to Competitive Chess (Game Collection: John Emms: Survival Guide to Competitive Chess). And there, it's just the CEM principle - <C>heck <E>very <M>ove. It's as simple as that. And as for the tactics, I hate it when the solution is given just below the diagram, it's such a hassle to cover it up and not accidentally peek. |
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| Mar-30-09 | | Strongest Force: I'm still pissed at Charlie for not showing up at Washington Square Park when he was going to NYU. |
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| Sep-11-10 | | cehertan: Can't please everyone--but before you judge the book Forcing Chess Moves based on the only really negative review I've seen yet (above), look at what others have said on Amazon (or any pro review). FYI, the solutions are NOT given just below the diagram--you have to flip the page to see them, and the printing quality is great so you can't see a trace of the solution on the problem page! I personally prefer this layout greatly to flipping back and forth to the back of the book. Thanks Folks! The response to the book from class players and masters alike has been tremendous. I have a kids' book coming out this spring. |
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| Sep-13-10 | | cehertan: P.S., the concept of "computer eyes" had to do with overcoming human bias by categorizing and studying the specific types of tactics that we mortals tend to overlook. This is laid out quite clearly in the book,
actually. |
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| Sep-17-10 | | wordfunph: "My peak FIDE rating was over 2400, yet I am not ashamed to admit that some particularly devilish mate-in-two problems have stumped me for as long as an hour!" - Charles Hertan (in his book "Forcing Chess Moves") |
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Sep-17-10
 | | HeMateMe: Joel Benjamin gives <"Forcing Moves"> glowing praise. I don't know if that is genuine, or two friends supporting each other (Kasparov/Josh __). I'm inclined to believe JB's praise is genuine, and that its a well done book on calculating exchange variations. |
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| Sep-19-12 | | Chris1971: I really enjoyed Power Chess for Kids. This book is extremely useful not for just kids but adults as well. I got a good deal of mileage from this book. In the book the author makes mention of a soon to be coming sequel to this work and I can only hope that this sequel sees publication sometime in the near future. |
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| Apr-19-15 | | Volmac: Do you know why he is called Mr Donkey?
Quote from Mark Ginsburg:
"I believe for a certain time, the US Chess Federation actually accepted his alias “Mister Donkey” as an official tournament name so New England pairing sheets would have pairings like “Curdo vs Kelleher, Donkey vs Ivanov." |
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| Oct-14-15 | | cehertan: The funny thing is that Mr. Ginsberg himself played a key role in this episode! As a teenager I wanted to poke fun at the super-seriousness of tournament play so I told Mark I would like to wear a donkey mask to the board. He suggested "you could call yourself Mr. Donkey!" I loved his idea and submitted a name change to the USCF. Within weeks I received a new i.d. card with the name Mr. Donkey! This sparked a wave of silly names from others, including "Mr. X". Six months later the USCF cracked down and rescinded my "donkeyhood". Probably my most notable game from this period was "Gruchacz-Donkey", a king's gambit which I should try to unearth. |
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| Oct-10-17 | | thegoodanarchist: < cehertan: The funny thing is that Mr. Ginsberg himself played a key role in this episode! As a teenager I wanted to poke fun at the super-seriousness of tournament play so I told Mark I would like to wear a donkey mask to the board. He suggested "you could call yourself Mr. Donkey!" I loved his idea and submitted a name change to the USCF. Within weeks I received a new i.d. card with the name Mr. Donkey! This sparked a wave of silly names from others, including "Mr. X". Six months later the USCF cracked down and rescinded my "donkeyhood". Probably my most notable game from this period was "Gruchacz-Donkey", a king's gambit which I should try to unearth.> Please tell me that you had the White pieces against a Mr. Kong during this era of your career! Or, at least, against this guy:
James Adams Congdon |
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| Oct-10-17 | | thegoodanarchist: oops, he was before your time. |
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Jul-02-19
 | | louispaulsen88888888: I only met him once but I learned a valuable lesson from the short time I was with him. It is this:
When you are on a train and the train is jerking back and forth as it often does, don’t fight it, just go with the flow. I have done that ever since and it leads to a relaxed ride and is easier on the back. |
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Jul-03-19
 | | perfidious: <Charlie....As a teenager I wanted to poke fun at the super-seriousness of tournament play so I told Mark I would like to wear a donkey mask to the board. He suggested "you could call yourself Mr. Donkey!" I loved his idea and submitted a name change to the USCF. Within weeks I received a new i.d. card with the name Mr. Donkey! This sparked a wave of silly names from others, including "Mr. X". Six months later the USCF cracked down and rescinded my "donkeyhood"....> The <nerve> of USCF!! Ah, memories.
Was a pleasure knowing you in those bygone days, even if our games were typically a thrashing for your humble narrator. |
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| Sep-02-24 | | cehertan: It is interesting that my dalliance with the Damiano Gambit is now mentioned in my player profile. I started analyzing ‘from scratch’ with no references in my early 20’s when I got tired of theory. I played it successfully since opponents were stunned to learn that 3…Nxe4 was a viable move. (See my games against IM’s Morris and Josh Waitzkin). Elliot Winslow took issue with the openings name in Chess life, but I was just going by the one word note in The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, which said ‘Damiano’. In recent years I made the mistake of playing a 2-game postal match with Piotr Wolochovich, the world’s leading expert on the Damiano and author of a pamphlet on it. The mistake was that he is a strong postal master and I have never played correspondence. Also I hadn’t yet mastered the use of engines. I played the black side and he ripped my head off and in the process, I thought, refuted his whole opening. I then agreed to an early draw as white. |
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Dec-09-24
 | | FSR: Your Daring Damiano is hot these days! FM Kamil Plichta wrote a course on it for Chessable. https://www.chessable.com/secret-bl... Six months later, Awonder Liang used it to draw Caruana at the 2022 U.S. Championship! Caruana vs A Liang, 2022. Seven months later, after Caruana had time to prepare, Mamedyarov played it against him at Norway Blitz - and won! Caruana vs Mamedyarov, 2023. In 2023-24, I played it nine times in correspondence chess, almost all against titled players, drawing every game without undue difficulty. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che.... This is a strong endorsement, since my opponents were doubtless using engines rated 3500+ and could let them analyze very deeply. Last month, So played the Daring Damiano against Carlsen in a rapid game. Carlsen won, but So would have been OK after 24...Bc6! Carlsen vs So, 2024. Partly inspired by my games, IM Cyrus Lakdawala and FM Carsten Hansen wrote a book on the opening this year. https://www.amazon.com/None-Shall-P... And correspondence IM Nikolaos Ntirlis published a survey on it in Chess Informant, Volume 158. He calls 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4!? "the easiest and one of the most surprising antidotes to 1. e4. An opening that has recently come into the spotlight, after a few correspondence players proved that it is as valid as any other!" |
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Dec-09-24
 | | offramp:
I'm Chessington Chertan, of what I am certain
I don't own a shirt, wear an old curtain,
I'm Chessington Chertan from Chow. |
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| Apr-07-25 | | cehertan: FSR wow! I wish I had the score of my loss to Wolochowich, he really thrashed me. |
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Kibitzing
