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Daniel Rensch

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Daniel Rensch
Rensch at the 2022 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
Born (1985-10-10) October 10, 1985 (age 39)
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
TitleInternational Master (2009)
FIDE rating2402 (November 2024)
Peak rating2416 (September 2011)

Daniel Michael "Danny" Rensch (born October 10, 1985) is an American chess International 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

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Chess career

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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

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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 in 2022

Commentator

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Rensch is known for his coverage of Chess.com's flagship events like the Bullet Chess Championship,[19] PRO Chess League,[20] the Speed Chess Championship,[21] and PogChamps.[22]

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 has also provided commentary for the most important chess event in the world, the World Chess Championship. He has hosted live broadcasts of the 2018 World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, as well as the record-breaking coverage of the 2021 World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, which amassed more than 25 million views.[25]

Tournament organizer

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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

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ "Scottsdale boy nears state record in chess". AZcentral.com.
  2. ^ "Interview with IM Daniel Rensch". Elizabeth Spiegel's blog. July 31, 2010.
  3. ^ "Member Profile: Daniel Rensch". Chess.com.
  4. ^ "Friday Night Action Crosstable". United States Chess Federation. USCF.
  5. ^ "2000 National Junior High School Championship". United States Chess Federation. USCF.
  6. ^ "Daniel Rensch". chessgames.com. Chessgames Services LLC.
  7. ^ a b "FIDE Title Applications". FIDE.
  8. ^ "Road to GM: Not Broken". The United States Chess Federation.
  9. ^ "2008 Berkeley International Crosstable". United States Chess Federation. USCF.
  10. ^ Polgar, Susan. "Polgar: Rensch fulfills longtime dream at SPICE Cup Tournament". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
  11. ^ "2019 Denver Open Crosstable". United States Chess Federation. USCF.
  12. ^ "Video Series on Rook Endings". Chess.com. December 18, 2010.
  13. ^ "Video Series on Isolated Queen Pawns". Chess.com. December 22, 2010.
  14. ^ "Pawn Structure 101 Video Series". Chess.com. March 2015.
  15. ^ "Chess Video Library". Chess.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  16. ^ "The Principles of the Opening | Chess for Beginners". Chess.com. June 28, 2011.
  17. ^ "Tutorials - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c "Danny Resch | Chess Celebrities". Chess.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  19. ^ "Bullet Chess Championship Guide". Chess.com. April 7, 2019.
  20. ^ "PRO Chess League Finals Coverage". Twitch.
  21. ^ "2018 Speed Chess Championship Guide". Chess.com. December 2, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  22. ^ Team (CHESScom), Chess com (December 23, 2020). "PogChamps 3: All The Information". Chess.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  23. ^ "2017 Isle of Man International Results". Chess-Results.
  24. ^ "Twitch Rivals Komodo Boss Rush". Twitch.
  25. ^ Pinhata (PedroPinhata), Pedro. "2021 Chess.com Awards Winners". Chess.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  26. ^ "Tournament Director History". United States Chess Federation.
  27. ^ "Magnus Carlsen Headlines Chess.com Championship". prweb.
  28. ^ "2019 Speed Chess Championship Guide". Chess.com. March 8, 2019.
  29. ^ Team (CHESScom), Chess com. "Chess.com Rapid Chess Championship 2022: All The Information". Chess.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  30. ^ "| Milken Institute". milkeninstitute.org. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  31. ^ Pete (Pete) (February 24, 2019). "Rensch To Host Chess And Machine Learning Panel At MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference". Chess.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  32. ^ "Dark Arts: What the Sports World Can Learn From Chess - Panel Discussion and Chess Simul With GM Robert Hess | MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference". www.sloansportsconference.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  33. ^ "Beyond the Gambit: Chess' Big Move | MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference". www.sloansportsconference.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  34. ^ "Chess and Machines: The Future of the World's Oldest Game | MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference". www.sloansportsconference.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  35. ^ Graaham, Catie (February 5, 2013). "Chess Master Masters Movies". Payson Roundup. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
  36. ^ soundbite.fm. "Coffeehouse Blunders". Coffeehouse Blunders. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  37. ^ Podcast, Perpetual Chess. "Perpetual Chess Podcast - EP.18 - International Master Danny Rensch, Chess.com Vice President". Google Podcasts. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  38. ^ Shahade, Jennifer (September 18, 2019). "Ladies Knight with IM Danny Rensch [PODCAST]". US Chess.org. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
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