Chief Chess Officer, Chess.com LLC.
International Master Danny Rensch is best known for his videos and chess.com/tv shows - but also writes educational articles, publishes breaking chess news, and organizes the details for Chess.com's biggest events, like the Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championships, Blitz Death Matches, the ChessKid.com National Invitational Championship and more!
My mother used to tell me that being embarrassed is just realizing that other people like you more in that moment than you like yourself. Yep. She was nuts Her crazy ideas aside we can all admit it's nice to be loved and appreciated ...
Chess.com has always offered a great platform to recruit new students and provide online (live) lessons, but are you - as a titled player or professional chess coach - fully aware of all the tools and opportunities available to you?...
What if we had a time machine? What if we could bring all the greatest chess players in history together, removing any advantages of opening theory or other evolved knowledge of our game for a super-tournament? What if Fischer played Kasparov? K...
One of the most exciting projects I've contributed to since joining the Chess.com team (eight years ago and counting) is being revealed today. Chess.com's Computer Aggregated Precision Score (or CAPS) is a tool tha...
Chess would be great for my kids, but where do I start? I'd love to help start a chess program at my school, but I'm a math/science/English teacher and I know nothing about teaching chess. I run a homeschool program with limited res...
Looking for a new, exciting chess variant? Maybe you watched my games vs GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave here and you're anxious to give it a try? Or perhaps you've always just been good at following the age old chess rule "always check, because it...
Tired of playing chess alone?! Doubles Chess (Bughouse) is for you! Tired of not having someone to talk to about your decisions on the board (at least not legally)? Doubles Chess (Bughouse) is for you! Tired of not having someone else (your t...
Below are the official rules and format of Chess.com's Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. For the full list of players in the 2016 GM Battle Championship, click here. By accepting the invitation to play, players acknowledge they have read an...
Chess Rivals, Blindfold Battles and other streams are matches that take place online between the world's most popular and respected "Chess Streamers." This article is to serve as a historical record of those battles: Match 30: GM William...
Today I have the pleasure of reviewing Grandmaster Judit Polgar's new book, How I Beat Fischer's Record for our community here on Chess.com - and I must say I found Judit's work refreshingly honest, surprisingly inspiring, and undeniably as i...
I know what you're thinking: Here we go again! Another ridiculous, self-deprecating blog/rant by International Master Daniel Rensch... Well, after my performance at the SPICE Cup (North American Masters) in Chicago, I am left with no choice but...
Chess has been called the art of attack and defense. A Lot of stress is always put on a beautiful attack with a beautiful combination that can win the game swiftly. But as GM Melikset Khachiyan illustrates in his video series on practical defense,...
First of all, the videos in this series are all for advanced level players. If you (the reader) are just beginning to come across the concept of space in chess, this video will get you started. For intermediate players, this video and it's sequel ...
At the age of 15 I had the wonderful opportunity to work with International Master, and world renowned chess trainer, Mark Dvoretsky. He visited Arizona, courtesy of the sponsorship of my father and grandfather, to work with a group of me and my p...
Top Ten Rules to Chess Endgames! For a lot of beginner level chess players, the endgame can be a difficult challenge. Many of my early games ended in checkmate in the middlegame, so I did not have a lot of early experience playing endgame...
Top Ten Rules to the Opening! There are many rules and principles for the three different stages of a chess game, but the focus of this article is how to "get out of the gates" in a hurry! Rule #1 - Develop Your Pieces! Development means "...
With most of my "national championship experiences" coming as a player, I am here to tell you that participating in an event like the Elementary (K-6) National Chess Championships in Dallas, Texas from May 5-8 as coach/business man was entirely di...
In case you are wondering, the white pawn to your right is begging for you NOT to attack him... Unfortunately, his future isn't so bright (he doesn't wear shades ) as an Isolated Queen Pawn. That said, his teammates don't always mind his isol...
With the "King and Pawn Ending" video series I set out to achieve one simple goal: Provide the most fundamental examples necessary in order for someone to go from a basic/beginner's knowledge, to a master level understanding of the most critical K...
This video series is specifically designed to target and improve an area that could always use "fine-tuning" at any chess player's level: technique. The ability to consistently convert upon your advantages (a.k.a. "win when you are winning") is ar...
This comprehensive series instructs on perhaps the most practical and commonly reached type of endgames (Rook Endings). It is designed to take a chess player with the most limited knowledge of basic rook ending ideas -- to a master level understan...
by IM Daniel Rensch To start this "post game review" off right, I would first like to say that I had a lot of fun broadcasting this match, G-Star Raw's World Chess Challenge, Magnus Carlsen vs the World, for all of you here on Chess.com/TV! Ever...
When I was first made aware of the "G-Star" project (basically that we, Chess.com, would be hosting a "Magnus Carlsen vs the World" match) I was pretty pumped. I wanted to find a way to contribue to the event in any way that I could. As most of ...
