About Deniz Tasdelen (National Master)

I’m Deniz Tasdelen, a FIDE-rated chess player and writer based in Turkey. As a junior, I represented my country at international level and competed alongside the players who later became Turkey’s top grandmasters — including Mustafa Yilmaz, currently Turkey’s number-one ranked player, who was a childhood friend and rival. I never pursued a professional chess career the way they did, but the competitive grounding has stayed with me.

Some career highlights:

• Top 20 finish at the European Youth Chess Championship
• Three-time 3rd place at the Turkish Youth Championship
• Competed at the World Youth Chess Championships and World Junior Championships
• FIDE Elo performance of 2375 in over-the-board tournament play
• Defeated multiple grandmasters at the 2019 FIDE Fischer Random Chess World Championship on chess.com, narrowly missing qualification for the final stage (eliminated by GM Vidit, 2700+ FIDE)

My last over-the-board tournament was almost 10 years ago, so my FIDE rating has been stable at 2102 since then — but I’ve been very active online over the past few years.

On ChessDoctrine I write opening guides and strategic articles, with a focus on understanding ideas rather than memorizing lines. If you’d like to get in touch, the best email is chessdoctrineinquiries@gmail.com.