Danny Rensch Helps A Korean Boy Be A Beast In Chess And Will Giveaway A ONE-YEAR DIAMOND Membership!
Hello Boomers!
Ok, to start, the title needs some clarification:
1. That Korean boy is me: @myteachersam aka MTS. I'm a 32-year old chesstv and twitch partner streamer who looks like he's still in high school. I am no beast in chess, but I'll get there some day. 
2. Yes, I will be giving away a one-year diamond when I stream with Daniel Rensch this Wednesday at 5pm PDT!
ROAD TO 1300
My journey to streaming:
Last year, I decided to flirt with chess. In my eyes, it felt like a simplified version of my other love - Starcraft: There are no pay-to-win schemes, and it's extremely balanced. "Skill" is your ammo and "fair" is the name of the game! Also, what other game allows for bullet games and finish in less than 2 minutes? Sometimes, that's all the free time I have when I'm taking a dump! My kind of game indeed! Apologies for the TMI....
Anyway, I soon realized that chess is not life, but rather, life is chess! I quickly became very hooked and had a desire to simply get better. After tying the knot (just had my one-year anniversary on April 30th), I decided to quit all games - computer and mobile - to have a better relationship with my wife and have better concrete goals in my career. Oddly, my wife didn't view chess as "just a game" so I naturally started playing... err... studying chess more. Like, A LOT MORE. After learning the rules and knowing basic concepts - one, gain the center; two, king safety; three, ATTACK - I was able to attain a 1300 rating without losing much hair. It was getting to 1400 that made me lose it. I simply couldn't! No matter how many games I played!
This is when I decided to play with better players than me to gain a better understanding of the game. But what in the world?! No matter who I challenged or messaged on chess.com (2000+ ELO), I got no response. It was like trying to go out with my wife all over again when I first laid eyes on her. She did not give me a second look. Harsh truth. But I got her in the end, so I decided I'm going to get these 2000+ players to play me and teach me! SOMEHOW!
This kind of thinking led me to live streaming on Twitch. I'm an only child so I naturally have the only-child-syndrome - the ability to talk to self frequently whenever necessary. I figured if I was a streamer, I'll be able to get people of different levels wanting to play me. And thus, after asking the wife for permission, www.twitch.tv/myteachersam was born. I thought it would be hilarious to force viewers to call me as "my teacher" simply because it's my handle. Considering I'm a business English instructor here in Korea for Samsung employees, I thought it was just so fitting.
On my first stream, the almighty @bikfoot visited my stream - he was a twitch partner at the time and I didn't even know it! He gave me my first host and helped me out quite a bit. Go ahead and check his stream out: www.twitch.tv/bikfoot and you'll see how amazing of an epic trash talker he is - in a lovably hilarious way of course!
A month later, the Herculean dad of 4 - Daniel Rensch - came by my stream and featured me on chesstv. I was just doing my thing and didn't expect it at all! It was a pleasant and wonderful surprise and my streaming career flew off since then!
Although Danny is an extremely busy man, he has agreed to stream with me this week. To show my gratitude, I decided to gift away a one-year diamond membership to a lucky viewer. Want to know the details on how to win? Check out my club!
ROAD TO 1400:
Many viewers much stronger than myself helped me so much along the way. One of them being GM Simon Williams! He indirectly helped me through his London System DVD. This DVD helped me beat multiple 2000+ rated players live on stream! Check it out!
I became quite a big fan and just last month, the H-pawn enthusiast Simon himself came onto my stream and subbed! My heart was literally melting and, for a moment, I forgot I was married.
ROAD TO 1500:
Another hero of mine is John Bartholomew. His Climbing-The-Rating-Ladder series is extremely helpful and I was incredibly honored to have him play me on my stream while he was recording his series. Why don't you check it out and give him a sub along the way! Click the pic!
ROAD TO 1600:
With continued help from viewers and the help of GM Krikor's streams, I was finally able to attain 1600! Check him out if you want to improve as well! Channel: www.twitch.tv/gmkrikor
We also recently had a time-odds deathmatch! It was hilariously fun! Click the pic!
There are so many benefits of being a diamond member:
1. You get a diamond badge next to your name. It just looks... so nice!
2. Virtual mentor - All lessons have been made by Daniel Rensch or someone equal in strength. The notes and thought process are on point and it's pretty much having Danny right next to you! Check it out!
3. Make a club of your own! Invite awesome people and make your own chess community! If you want to be a fellow boomer, come join my chess club! I give away 2 one-month diamonds every week!
4. Unlimited tactics and analysis! This helped me out extremely especially on my commute. 
As an FYI, I'm sure some of you also want to be chess streamers. If you do, chess.com is where you want to be! Go ahead and check out this link (click the pic - you can also ask me here in this blog!):
Wednesday Stream with Danny Rensch:
We will be doing many things such as:
1. Q&A about chess and chess.com.
Ask him anything related to the title!
2. Tourneys.
We will have a bunch of tourneys. I will try my best to distract Danny to up your chances on beating him!
3. Go into the mind of Danny.
I will play someone 2000+. Danny will provide his thoughts move by move and share with us why we are stuck at the level we are. I know Danny is way above 2000, but it is still mostly me playing so a win for us should still be a challenge! If I don't understand what he is saying, then I won't make the move!
4. We will have a mini-game to determine the winner of the one-year diamond.
What is this mini-game? Come to the stream to find out!
LAST REMARK:
I am open for more ideas. Let me know your thoughts and I will do my best to incorporate it for this stream! See you there!
