FM Dalton Perrine

Hello, I'm Dalton Perrine, a FIDE Master and USCF National Master. I've been playing competitive chess for over 23 years and coaching full-time online for over 12 years. I'm currently pursuing the International Master title, and I'm also a co-founder of Chessalyz.ai, a Chessable course author, and a content creator. My goal is simple: help chess players improve. Not just their moves, but the way they think about the game, approach their training, and handle the mental side of competition.

I started competing at age 10 in central Florida and earned the National Master title in 2011 and the FIDE Master title in 2014. My highest USCF rating is 2362 and my highest FIDE rating is 2374. I've defeated multiple Grandmasters over the board, won the 2025 Ohio State Championship, and won the US Amateur Team South Championship in 2010. I'm a specialist in the Reti Nimzo Larsen Attack, the Benko Gambit, and the French Defense. I'm not a retired player giving lessons on the side. I'm actively competing and working toward the IM title, which means I'm constantly studying and improving alongside my students.

I started coaching professionally at 21 and have been teaching full-time online since March 2014. Over the past 12+ years, I've given thousands of lessons to hundreds of students at every level, from scholastic beginners to expert-level tournament players chasing titles. Many of my students have gone on to win tournaments and gain hundreds of rating points, and one student even won $10,000 at the Millionaire Chess Open. About 80% of my students stick with me long-term, which I think says more about the quality of my teaching than anything else I could tell you.

I run a weekly Substack newsletter called "Chess Chatter" (800+ subscribers, recommended by GM Eugene Perelshteyn) where I write about chess improvement, mindset, opening ideas, and my own tournament experiences. I have a YouTube channel with 2,100+ subscribers and 237+ videos covering openings, strategy, speedruns, tournament recaps, and student game analysis. I'm a published Chessable author with multiple courses and 375+ reviews averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars, and I was shortlisted for Chessable's Best Author Support award in 2023. I've also been a guest on several chess podcasts including the Perpetual Chess Podcast and the Chess Cognition Podcast. And I'm a co-founder of Chessalyz.ai, an AI-powered game analysis platform.

On the chess side, my biggest strengths are positional understanding, opening preparation (particularly in my specialty openings), and practical decision-making in tournament games. On the teaching side, I think what sets me apart is my ability to diagnose what's actually holding a student back, and it's usually not what they think it is. A lot of coaches focus on opening theory because it's easy to deliver and feels productive. I focus on thinking processes, because that's where the real improvement happens. I'm also big on the mental side of chess (time management, tilt control, handling pressure, having a growth mindset) which I think most coaches don't spend enough time on. I treat every student as an individual and build lessons around what they specifically need, not around a template.

Every lesson is fully personalized. Before we even meet, I study your recent games on my own time to understand your playing style, your strengths, and the areas where I think you can improve the most. During lessons, I don't lecture very much. Instead, I ask a lot of questions. I want to hear how you think through positions, because that tells me way more than just seeing what move you play. My approach is Socratic. I'll put you in a position, ask what you're thinking, follow your reasoning, and then help you see what you might be missing. The goal is to help you discover the right way to look at things rather than just telling you the answer. Between lessons, I continue analyzing your games and preparing material tailored to you.

I also assign customized homework that targets the specific areas of your game that need the most attention. Whether that's positional understanding, calculation, endgame technique, opening repertoire, or the mental side of things, we focus on whatever will make the biggest difference for you.