Name: Danny Rensch | Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life
Start: 2025-10-11T11:00:00-06:00
End: 2025-10-11T12:30:00-06:00
Location: Salt Lake City Public Library

Danny Rensch | Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life

Join Danny Rensch, the co-founder of Chess.com for a discussion and signing of his memoir, Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life.
About this Event

In parternership with the Utah Humanities Book Festival, The King's English is honored to welcome Danny Rensch, the co-founder of Chess.com, for a discussion and signing of his memoir, Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life.

Danny will be in conversation with the host of Breaking Down the Patriarchy, Amy Allebest.

This event is free and open to the public but we appreciate an RSVP.

Copies of the books will be available to purchase at the event. You may also pre-order signed copies of their books to be picked up at the event by either calling the store at 801-484-9100 or ordering online. If you cannot make this event, signed copies may be ordered from our website. Please specify in the comments if you would like your copy personalized.

About the book:

Educated meets The Queen's Gambit in this extraordinary memoir by International Master and Chess.com co-founder Danny Rensch, who describes his upbringing in an abusive cult – and how chess ended up saving his lifeBorn into the Church of Immortal Consciousness, Danny Rensch spent his childhood navigating the isolated confines of a cult. Despite psychological manipulation, physical abuse, and neglect, he persevered. An international chess master and world-class commentator, Rensch’s remarkable journey led him to being the face of Chess.com, one of the largest online gaming platforms in the world.With unflinching honesty, Rensch recounts his life, starting from the moment he discovered chess in the summer of 1995, all the way up to being at the center of the most explosive cheating scandal in chess history.He chronicles the traumas of being “special” in a cult that forced separation from his mother. Mentored by an alcoholic, Russian chess master, he found solace alongside suffering in his obsession for an ancient game, and chess became his only escape. Rensch rose through the chess ranks until a medical emergency nearly took him out of the game forever. And it almost did, until Chess.com came along.Deeply heartfelt, keenly reflective, and haunting, Dark Squares is the never-before-told story of Danny Rensch’s resilience, survival, and his enduring love for the game that saved him.