Wenzel Grüß (born 2002) is a prodigy German mental calculator and board member of the Global Mental Calculators Association.
Career.
Grüß began competing in mental calculation in 2011 at the age of 9. He is a five-time champion in his age category at the Junior Mental Calculation World Championship, despite the cancellation of the competition in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
He is also a two-time champion of the Mind Sports Organisation mental calculation event and was the first child to be named a grandmaster of mental calculation.
At the Mental Calculation World Cup, Grüß got third place overall in 2018, and was awarded most versatile calculator after winning non-standard tasks by a substantial margin.
Grüß took a five-year break from competition, but returned to compete in Calculation League in 2024, quickly forming a rivalry with two-time defending Mental Calculation World Cup champion Aaryan Nitin Shukla. Their scores were very close throughout the first two seasons, however, Grüß won the championship each season and remains undefeated in Calculation League. Mental calculation expert Arthur T. Benjamin hosted the final match of each season and referred to Grüß as "the most talented mental calculator I have ever seen."
Grüß holds the world record for factoring numbers, and has demonstrated a unique ability to solve high-difficulty tasks such as calculating non-integer exponents, systems of equations, and equations with several distinct operations.
In Russia, Grüß gave a televised performance of doing mental calculation while heading a soccer ball.