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FM cazhansen Lichess coach picture

FM Carsten Hansen

Real improvement in all areas of your game to lift your understanding and rating.

LocationNew York United States
LanguagesDansk, Deutsch
RatingFIDE: 2280
Hourly rateUSD 50
AvailabilityAccepting students
Active

About me

I'm 48 years old, in my day job I work in the shipping industry (as in the containers that sail across the oceans and those that are loaded into aircrafts). I live Bayonne (NJ, USA) but originate in Denmark.

Playing experience

I played full-time in the early 1990 but have been playing less in recent years.
My ELO rating is around 2300, but my online ratings are around 2500 and have beaten numerous grandmasters and international masters.
My best individual results were a 2500 ELO performance in a six-round tournament in 2002.
In 1991, I finished on a shared 2nd place in the Danish U20 championship ahead of several titled players including several later GMs such as Topalov and Kulaots.

Teaching experience

I'm a FIDE Trainer since 2016 and have the online course "12 Weeks to Better Chess" that has had great results for the participants, several raising their ratings by as much as 200 points above their previous peak.

Other experiences

I have written 33 books on chess, including several Amazon bestsellers. My books cover various openings such as the English Opening (1 c4), the Sicilian Dragon, the Accelerated Dragon, the Closed Sicilian, the Budapest Gambit and others. Additionally, I have four books out on Chess Tactics, one on Positional Chess, chess miniatures (games of 25 moves or fewer) and have books coming out on the endgame and several other topics. Additionally, I have a Chessable course available on Tactics and will have several other course coming out in the coming year.
Some of my books have been translated to Russian, Spanish, Danish, while German and French editions are in the works.
Finally, I'm a columnist for both Chess Life (tactics column), and American Chess Magazine (book reviews).

Best skills

I will work with you in improving your overall understanding of the game, help you identify your weaknesses, and improve your skills in those areas (there are usually several problem areas).
Together we will work on identifying which openings work best for you (based on which types of positions you play best and most confidently).

Teaching methodology

We work together which means active participation from both of us. Without you doing an equal amount of work outside our lessons, you will not truly see improvement in your game. So you will analyze your games, together we will work on the critical moments of the game to eliminate your weaknesses in understanding, tactics, endgames etc. We will go through your opening repertoire, to tailor a repertoire that corresponds with your style of play as well as your current level of understanding. As you improve, we will finetune all areas.