"Today, Rensch helms one of the largest online chess platforms in the world with more than 225 million registered members and 40 million active monthly users. As one of the company's three cofounders and chief chess officer, he's an American entrepreneur leading a gaming site beloved by millions. Chess.com says it surpassed a $1 billion valuation in 2023 without any venture backers, entirely bootstrapped by the entrepreneurs who were "laughed out of VC rooms" at the company's inception."
"As detailed in Rensch's recent book release Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life, the wunderkid spent his early years in the Church of Immortal Consciousness: a cult run by Trina and Steven Kamp in Arizona. The group, dubbed the "Collective," attracted those in need of help, including people with alcohol and drug abuse disorders and victims of abuse. Rensch's parents were pulled into the group, where the young chess wiz spent his childhood running around barefoot in a remote forest village."
He first encountered chess while watching the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer and romanticized the child prodigy narrative. The board became a tool for survival amid an unstable childhood spent in the Church of Immortal Consciousness, a cult in Arizona led by Trina and Steven Kamp. The Collective attracted people with addiction and abuse histories, and his parents joined the group. He grew up barefoot in a remote forest village and often lived off food stamps. He later rose to chess prominence, co-founded Chess.com, and led the platform to hundreds of millions of users and a billion-dollar valuation without venture backing.
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