Daniel Michael "Danny" Rensch (born October 10, 1985) is an American chessInternational Master, event organizer, lecturer and commentator. He holds the Arizona state record for youngest national master, at the age of 14.[1] He is the president of American Chess Events LLC[2] and Chief Chess Officer of Chess.com.[3]
Professional life
Chess career
Rensch won the 1998 Elementary National Championship before becoming Arizona's youngest National Master in 1999.[4] After earning the title, Rensch won the 2000 Junior High National Championship in Tucson, Arizona.[5] In 2004, Rensch tied for the National High School Championship,[6] beating Aleksandr Lenderman, a future grandmaster, to win the title.
Rensch earned his first International Master (IM) norm in 2004 at the Foxwoods Open in Mashantucket, Connecticut.[7] Backed by his strong performances, Rensch became the highest-rated 19-year-old in the United States that year.[8] Rensch earned his second IM norm in the 2008 Berkeley International, after tying for a third-place finish with only one loss.[9] In 2009, Rensch earned his final IM norm at Susan Polgar's SPICE CUP by achieving a draw against Ray Robson, who went on to achieve 'youngest ever grandmaster in the United States'.[10]
Since 2012, Rensch took part in only two FIDE registered tournaments,[7] the 2015 Millionaire Chess Open II in Las Vegas, and in the 2019 Denver Open where he tied for first place alongside Jesse Kraai.[11]
Chess.com
Rensch has been offering chess analysis online since 2009. His "Rook Endgames: Beginner to Master" series, "Isolated Queen Pawns", and "Pawn Structure 101" series are among the most popular on Chess.com.[12][13][14] In addition, his "Everything You Need to Know" video series, designed for beginners, has been viewed 1.7 million times.[15][clarification needed]
Rensch has written instructive content for Chess.com's users. Some of his earliest contributions to Chess.com are among the site's most viewed articles.[16]
Rensch is the "public face" of Chess.com as a spokesperson for the company. Notably, he has created video tutorials for using the site's features[17] and hosts the quarterly "State of Chess.com" show, presenting the company's activities over its previous three months and its plans for the future.[18]
Rensch has also commentated live, over-the-board tournaments like the Isle of Man International, where top players like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana competed.[23] In 2019, Rensch also hosted the "Twitch Rivals" Komodo Boss Rush event live in San Francisco with grandmaster Robert Hess.[24] Rensch also frequently commentates for large worldwide events such as the World Chess Championships, mostly alongside Robert Hess.
Rensch currently holds the United States Chess Federation record for most tournaments directed as Chief Director (1095),[26] a number which has climbed to 1196 as of January 2020.
An online event, "The $40,000 GM Blitz Battle Championship", was organized and hosted by Rensch in 2016. The event included world number one, Magnus Carlsen, and 7 other world-class speed chess players.[27] The tournament has since evolved into the Speed Chess Championships, becoming one of Chess.com's premier events. In 2019, the tournament featured a Junior and Women's Championship in addition to the primary event, and attracted players like Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, and Ding Liren.[28]
In 2020, Rensch helped organize and hosted the first edition of PogChamps, an online chess tournament for internet personalities.[18] The tournament gathered streamers with a large follower base, including xQcOW, moistcr1tikal, forsen, fuslie, and Ludwig. Since then, three other editions of the event happened, attracting famous participants from other creative fields such as poker player Daniel Negreanu, actor Rainn Wilson, and rapper Logic.
Rensch also helped to organize the 2022 Rapid Chess Championship, an online event exclusive to the top-100 players in the world, top-10 women, top-10 juniors, and other invited players.[18] The event features a $650,000 prize fund and has attracted some of the world's strongest players, including Anish Giri, Daniil Dubov, Fabiano Caruana, and others.[29]
Lecturer
Rensch is a lecturer and has been a panelist as a presenter, speaker, and mediator over the years. In his lectures, Rensch talks about the game of chess, entrepreneurship, esports, and other subjects.
In 2017, Rensch was the presenter of the lecture "Chess and the Art of War: Strategies That Win," featuring Magnus Carlsen at the Milken Institute. During that event, Carlsen made a simultaneous exhibition against ten opponents, while Rensch explained the games and drew parallels between chess and business.[30]
Two years later, Rensch hosted a chess and machine learning panel at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. During the conference, Robert Hess played a simultaneous match against conference attendants. Rensch explained multiple chess concepts, how chess engines approach the game, and what humans can learn with them.[31]
Rensch made his second appearance in the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2020 as a panelist. Like in the previous year, he was accompanied by Robert Hess, who this time played a blindfolded simultaneous match against four players. Other speakers included Daryl Morey, John Urschel, and Neil Paine. Rensch spoke about what chess could teach other sports, from rating systems to cheat detection.[32]
Rensch returned to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2021, held online due to COVID-19 restrictions. In that year, Rensch was the moderator of a panel composed by Daryl Morey, Robert Hess, Hikaru Nakamura, and Jennifer Shahade. The panel discussed the changes caused by the chess boom, propelled in large part by Netflix's miniseries The Queen's Gambit.[33]
In 2022, Rensch lectured at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference for a fourth consecutive occasion as part of a panel alongside Robert Hess, Daryl Morey, Jennifer Yu, and Ella Papanek. Together, they discussed the impact of chess engines on the game, how chess adapted, and lessons other sports can take from it.[34]
Other work
Rensch in 2015
Rensch helped Jake Goldberger direct the chess scenes in the independent film Life of a King.[35]
Rensch co-hosted the podcast Coffeehouse Blunders for two seasons with James Montemagno where they discussed multiple subjects related to chess, including neural networks, openings, critiques of each episode of The Queen's Gambit, and more.[36]
Rensch has also been a guest at different podcasts, Ben Johnson's Perpetual Podcast,[37] and US Chess' Ladies Knight.[38]
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