Daniel Rensch (born October 10, 1985) is an American chess player, International Master, event organizer, lecturer and commentator. He holds the Arizona state record for youngest national master, at the age of 14. He is the president of American Chess Events LLC and Chief Chess Officer of Chess.com.
Professional life
Chess career
Rensch won the 1998 Elementary National Championship before becoming Arizona's youngest National Master in 1999. After earning the title, Rensch won the 2000 Junior High National Championship in Tucson, Arizona. In 2004, Rensch tied for the National High School Championship, 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. Backed by his strong performances, Rensch became the highest-rated 19-year-old in the United States that year. Rensch earned his second IM norm in the 2008 Berkeley International, after tying for a third-place finish with only one loss. 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'.
In 2019, Rensch tied for first place in the Denver Open alongside Jesse Kraai, in a field with many talented grandmasters.
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. In addition, his "Everything You Need to Know" video series, designed for beginners, has been viewed 1.7 million times.
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.
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 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.
Commentator
Rensch is known for his coverage of Chess.com's flagship events like the Bullet Chess Championship, PRO Chess League, the Speed Chess Championship, and PogChamps.
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. In 2019, Rensch also hosted the "Twitch Rivals" Komodo Boss Rush event live in San Francisco with grandmaster 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.
Tournament organizer
Rensch currently holds the United States Chess Federation record for most tournaments directed as Chief Director (1095), 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. 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.
In 2020, Rensch helped organize and hosted the first edition of PogChamps, an online chess tournament for internet personalities. 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. 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.
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.