NM Dennis Norman

My name is Dennis Norman, and I am a USCF NM from Baltimore, MD. I learned the rules at 9 years old. I became an expert at 18 and a master at 23 in early 2022. As a (relative) late bloomer who fought through several very tough rating plateaus, I have an appreciation for the work it takes to improve at chess.

I would describe myself as a very positional player at heart, and for years my strategic understanding and opening knowledge was far ahead of my tactical ability. As I got older, I worked hard on my tactics and drastically cut down on blunders, improved my board vision, and became a better calculator, helping me become a more universal player in the process.

Here are my most notable open tournament victories:

- 2019 UMBC Open (4/5, tied first)
- 2021 Washington DC Championship (4/4, clear first)
- 2023 Dewey Beach Open (5/5, clear first)

I also played many scholastic tournaments in high school and won events such as the 2014 Greater Baltimore HS championship and the 2015 DC Junior Open (co-champion, awarded first on tiebreak). In the years since, I have played in and won many smaller events hosted by organizers such as the Charm City Chess Club, the Waldorf Chess Club, and the Cecil County Chess Club.

I have taught many students both in-person and online, and of all age groups. This has included running chess camps, teaching group classes, hosting private lessons with individual students or small groups, coaching school chess teams, and giving prepared lectures. I have worked with students of various skill levels and at all different points in their chess journeys. In addition to teaching many private students of my own, I've also worked with chess organizations such as DMV Chess, the Baltimore Kids Chess League, and the Charlotte Chess Center.

My lessons will provide a balanced approach to chess improvement, with some of the following goals in mind:

- Learning the foundational tactics and principles of the game. This might entail working through a collection of positions/games/puzzles centered around a theme.
- Mastering positional chess, and in particular the plans behind the openings a student plays. I love helping students gain a better understanding of the middlegames and even the endgames that can result from the openings they play.
- Improving thought process, practical decision-making, and long calculation ability.