The Many Lives of Danny Rensch

"He spent his days with roving packs of children, building forts, playing cops and robbers in the woods, or splashing around in a septic dump, unmindful of the shit and of the bears and javelinas that sometimes came down from the hillsides in search of food and water. When Rensch was nine, he saw a movie, "Searching for Bobby Fischer," about a boy in New York City who plays chess in a public park with homeless men and discovers that he's a prodigy."

"Kamp was not just Dallas's grandfather; he was the leader of a cult to which almost everyone in the town, Tonto Village, belonged. The members of the Church of Immortal Consciousness, also known as the Collective, followed the teachings of a Dr. Pahlvon Duran, who, they believed, lived the last of his many lifetimes as an Englishman in the fifteenth century."

Danny Rensch grew up in a village near Payson, Arizona, spending childhood days outdoors with other children. At nine he saw the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer and began playing chess constantly with a friend. The friend's grandfather, Steven Kamp, led a local cult called the Church of Immortal Consciousness whose teachings discouraged ego and private property and urged fulfilling one's Purpose and living in Integrity. Rensch often lacked basic necessities while Kamp had food, cigars, and chess books and followed the Kasparov–Anand world championship. Kamp recognized Rensch's talent and began mentoring him. Rensch later became the face of Chess.com and helped change chess culture while undergoing his own transformation.

Read at The New Yorker