Danny visits Battersea and ‘Dark Squares’ book review

Battersea Chess Club were lucky enough to host Danny Rensch on Tuesday 25 August. He sat down for a conversation with club President Stephen Welch, then played a simul across 30 boards against members and friends of the club, including a good number of juniors who had been at our summer camps. For the CCO of a Silicon Valley unicorn, the delightfully termed Chief Chess Officer and the number two at chess.com, it made me chuckle that he is probably used to slightly more glamorous surroundings. (No disrespect to the Labour Club!)

The hand cramps must be setting in just… about… now!

I came away hugely impressed. He was erudite and compelling as we tested him on Chess.com's handling of the Hans Niemann controversy, on the psychological side of chess such as dealing with losing (he quoted a Grandmaster saying that "you're not a proper chess player until you've had 300 games that have made you cry"), and on the way Chess.com has changed how the game is played. He was warm and generous with his time too. A mammoth simul against a stacked line up, a proper word with everyone, photos with anyone who asked and of course signing many many copies of his autobiography, Dark Squares.

More on the book in a moment. First, while Danny won the vast majority of the marathon, I was lucky enough to spot a neat combination. Can you spot the winning move for Black?

Black to play and win.

I would recommend the book to any chess fan. You get a rare inside the biggest chess enterprise in the world, and a reminder that the journey there was anything but smooth. Professionalising the game, popularising chess videos, backing streamers before anyone else saw the point, lifting the ancient games to the heights it enjoys today. The Queen's Gambit helped, so did lockdown, so did a hunger for hobbies with a bit more meaning to them and a growing wariness of AI turning brains to mush. But the backbone of chess's accessibility has been chess.com. You no longer need to scout out a physical club. You can play from your sofa, on your phone, on a high quality app, with endless opposition. (But, if you're over 18, do still come to our monthly chess club, CheckMate Lates!).

You don't need to be a chess fan to find Danny's story astounding, though. Almost every chapter holds two or three moments that, had they happened to me, would be the most extraordinary thing I had ever been through. Raised in a cult. Separated from his mother and estranged from his father. Told it was his God-given purpose to become world number one. Coached by a former Soviet grandmaster who was also a grandmaster-level alcoholic.

What stays with you is what he does with all of it. Turning loss into gratitude for the people still around him. Making the case for forgiveness and rehabilitation. Looking honestly at trauma and a strange upbringing and finding the odd unexpected gift buried in there, in his case a child prodigy's chess career.

It is a page turner, a tear jerker, and a head scratcher (their approach to cheating, for one, got me thinking). Well worth your time.

Thanks for coming, Danny.