Daan Baselmans

Daan Baselmans (Chess.com Username: DaanB2004)

Meet Daan Baselmans, a fierce competitor on the 64 squares who takes chess seriously but never too seriously. With a chess career spanning from 2017 to 2025, Daan’s journey is a rollercoaster of fascinating stats, deep tactical awareness, and a penchant for comebacks worthy of legend.

About the Player

Starting as a humble bullet player scratching the 1300s in 2017, Daan quickly advanced through the ranks, constantly sharpening his lightning-fast instincts and precision. By mid-2021, he'd cracked the impressive 1990 rating in bullet chess — that’s just shy of grandmaster territory for speed demons!

Blitz games show a similar pattern, with a peak rating soaring to 1872 in late 2017, likely the result of all those bruising battles on the fast-paced battlefield. In rapid and daily chess, patience reigned supreme with solid ratings and a clean mastery of the old-school strategic grind, peaking at 1574 in rapid and 1643 in daily.

Play Style and Strengths

Daan’s strategic philosophy could be summed up as “fight till the end” — his comeback rate is an astonishing 78.77%, which means even when the chips are down, he's rarely out of the fight. This resilience pairs beautifully with his endgame frequency (67.7%), showing a player comfortable navigating the final trenches where games are won or lost.

His average game length, hovering around 64 moves for wins, exemplifies patience and a tendency to grind out results rather than snatching dazzling early miracles – unless he’s blitzing out a checkmate, which he’s done a respectable 637 times!

Daan enjoys the thrill of openings with a French Defense addiction — especially the Exchange Variation and Rubinstein Variation — but also spices things up with Scandinavian, King's Indian, and the sneaky Pirc Defense. These choices reveal a player who favors solid, strategic positions but isn't shy about wrestling for dynamic play.

Notable Records & Quirks

• Longest Winning Streak: 12 games of fierce dominance
• Most brutal losing streak: 23 games, proving that every chess hero takes a few licking’s
• Favorite battle time: Early evening around 7 PM, probably when coffee kicks in and the brain cells unite
• Early resignations: Rare at just 4.71%, showing Daan’s stubborn refusal to give up—unless the fridge suddenly calls him

Recent Battles on the Board

In a recent winning game against freeindia in May 2025, Daan cleverly exploited a quiet opening (Van't Kruijs Opening), transitioning to a tactical strike with a queen check leading to an early conclusion after 12 moves — a masterpiece of timing and precision.

But even champions stumble: Daan’s latest loss came at the hands of Eurepap, where a tricky French Defense Knight Variation caught him off-guard, a reminder that the chess gods can be merciless.

Opponent Highlights

Daan has faced some regular opponents like sammeister and deballer multiple times, with mixed results. Yet, against players like freeindia and bramjt077, his win rates hover near perfection (100% and 87.5% respectively). Clearly, Daan knows how to bring his "A" game to the right tables.

In Summary

With a chess spirit that combines grit, growth, and a touch of humor (because who can stay serious when queens are flying off the board?), Daan Baselmans is the kind of player who keeps audiences guessing and opponents sweating. Whether blitzing, bulleting, or settling into a slow marathon game, Daan’s chess story continues to be an exciting chapter on Chess.com — and we’re all here for every move.