Charles Hertan

In 1990 he married his first wife Jayme Shorin, the granddaughter of Topps Sports Card founder Abe Shorin, but they divorced three year later. Shorin went on to become an expert in the field of recovery from abuse and trauma, working at the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts. Hertan moved to the Northampton area post-divorce, where he eventually met and married educator Rhonda Cohen, Ph.D. in 2013.

Hertan discovered tournament chess at age 13 via his best friend, Stephen Feinberg (who later founded Cerberus Financial group and become a multi-billionaire). A relative late-bloomer, Hertan achieved the Senior Chessmaster title at age 16, and went on to achieve three International Master Norms at The 1981 Frank J. Marshall International Tournament (equal first), the New York Open later that year, and the Hastings Open 1993-94, though he failed to get the IM title on a technicality. 

Charles Hertan (born March 11, 1960) is an American FIDE Chess Master and author of six chess books, including Forcing Chess Moves (New in Chess, 2008), winner of the 2008 Chess Café Book of the Year award.

The son of businessman Donald Hertan (1932-2016) and poet/artist Lynn Kernan (1934-2002), Hertan grew up in New Jersey along with his older sister, artist Beth Fidoten. At age eight his mother left home, leaving he and his sister in the care of their father. Soon afterwards his mother broke her spine and developed a debilitating chronic pain condition. Charles and his family were massively impacted by these events, leading him to develop a lifelong interest in the effects of trauma, especially on men, and how humans cope with and recover from such painful events. His father remarried twice, and Charles has 4 step- and half-siblings from these marriages. His stepmother Barbara Kaplan, along with his mother's cousin Jane Lynn, were strong early influences.