Fabiano Caruana

The twenty five year old Grandmaster was introduced to chess through an afterschool program as a five-year old in Brooklyn, New York, while living near to Bobby Fischer’s childhood home.  That same year, he played his first tournament at the Susan Polgar Chess Center in Queens New York.  His performance there got the attention of Caruana’s first coach, NM Bruce Pandolfini.

At ten years old, Caruana became the youngest American to defeat a GM in  a FIDE sanctioned event.  By the age of twelve, he had earned his FIDE master title, won several national scholastic championships, and two gold medals in the Pan-American Youth Championships.  When it became clear that chess would be his future, Fabiano and his family moved to Europe.

Caruana is now one of the hottest players on the global scene.  He crossed the super- elite rating threshold of 2800 after winning the 42nd Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dartmund, Germany.  He was the eighth player in history to pass the 2800 barrier.  He secured the tournament win in the penultimate round without losing a game.

In 2014 Fabiano achieved two impressive results, he placed second behind Magnus Carlsen in the World Rapid Championship and went on to win the Sinquefield cup with a remarkable score of eight and a half out of ten. In early 2015, after playing as a member of the Italian Chess Federation, Caruana rejoined the United States Chess Federation as one of its strongest members.  In the past two years, Caruana has won his first U.S. Championship, placed second at Tata Steel, played first board for the gold medal winning U.S. team at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, and won the 2017 London Chess Classic. He returns to the U.S. Championship as a serious contender for the title of U.S. Champion.