Fabiano Caruana is a world-famous chess player who plays for the United States but has Italian roots. He became one of the youngest grandmasters in history. He is a multiple chess champion, as well as a possible candidate for victory in the championship called the 2016 Candidates Tournament.
General biography
Caruano has become one of the most famous figures in the chess world in just a few years. And the thing is not even that the guy achieved tremendous success at such a young age - at the age of 23, the chess player had already played with the legend of this game, Magnus Carlsen, and the rivalry on both sides was intense, which was unusual for games with the current World Champion (Carlsen )
Thanks to the coaching of many Russian masters, including Alexander Chernin, Boris Zlotnik, Vladimir Chuchelov and others, Caruana gained incredible professionalism in his years.
A family
Fabiano Caruana was born in Miami, Florida, on July 20, 1992. The boy became the third child in the family after his brother and sister, but in the future he not only did not yield in anything, but surpassed them in his success.
The parents of the future unique chess player were the most ordinary people: their father is an American (hence the birthplace and first place of residence of Caruana), but his mother was a burning and emotional Spanish woman who could not wait to take her children to her homeland to show them the country that just like the USA, it is their home. Both parents equally loved the youngest child and tried in every possible way to provide him with opportunities for self-development: they took him to different circles, both sports and creative, bought books and conducted not only with him, but also with all their children, real serious conversations. The first sprouts of future talent were noticed in the boy by his father. It was he who took his son to his first chess club in Brooklyn.
Childhood
When little Fabiano was only 4 years old, his family moved to Brooklyn. His family generally moved quite often, and the reason for this, most likely, was the eternal search for a good job in order to feed their children. At the age of 5, the boy was fond of chess for the first time, he asked his father to teach him how to play it. Of course, he is happy to take up training, and after some time his father, also an avid chess lover and a permanent member of one chess club, decides to take his son with him to the club to more clearly explain the subtleties of the game. In this club extraordinary abilities awaken in a boy. His first coach is Bruce Pandolfini, the man who corrected the first steps of Fabiano and guided him in the chess world. Until the age of 12, the trainer changed - now Grandmaster Miron Cher took up a talented student. Such attention from experienced adult teachers has done its job: Caruana goes to a chess tournament in New York and wins there. This first victory, as in a chain, is followed by others: a victory in the Pan American championships, as well as his greatest achievement at the beginning of his career - a victory in a game with grandmaster Alexander Voitkevich.
As already mentioned, a Spanish mother dreamed for a long time to take her children to her own homeland, and in 2004 she succeeded: the whole family moved to Spain. Now the reason for the move was not money, but the future of a talented family member - Spain has long been considered the best city to start a chess career.
In this country, Fabiano Keruana has a new coach - Boris Zlotnik, who will train the chess player for 3 years. Later, the Caruana family will again change their place of residence - in Hungary, the young chess player falls under the care of the Russian coach Alexander Chernin, who will put the finishing touches on the preparation of Fabiano before the most important event in his still small life at that time.
At the age of 14 years and 11 months, the chess player Fabiano Caruana becomes almost the youngest grandmaster in the world. After this, the whole routine life of the boy was reduced to nothing - now, in order to devote a lot of time to full-time training, Caruana will have to drop out of school and all other worries not related to chess.
For the further development of the young man in the chess world, of course, it would require large financial investments, at least for trips abroad to the championships, because Caruana's parents find a sponsor for their talented son. From now on, the costs of traveling Fabiano Caruana and participating in sports competitions fall on his shoulders, which costs a round sum - approximately 50 thousand dollars a year.
Breakthrough in the chess world
Further years up to the present moment became for Fabiano just a long and difficult road towards world recognition and full awareness of their own capabilities. In 2014, a young chess player who gained over the years of hard training experience set another world record - he took third place in the Elo rating, gaining 2836 points. Such an incredible success came to the young man after amazingly played games in St. Louis. On 23 categories in this city, he showed one of the best results, gaining 8.5 points out of 10 possible.
Once again, Fabiano surprised everyone by beating such “veterans” of chess sport as Nakamura, Carlsen and Aroyan were. Moreover, the most amazing thing is that after such intense games, Caruana himself did not express feelings of enthusiasm regarding the loss of the legendary masters and was not satisfied with himself. By nature, a calm and restrained person, he only said that he still has room to grow and that it is too early to stop at what has been achieved.
Preparing for most tournaments
Like many athletes, chess players have their own rituals of preparation for this or that important competition. Fabiano Caruana, whose biography consists entirely of such preparations, believes that the most important rule for training before a significant game is not to strain your mind, but to keep it toned. For any chess player, no matter what rank or title, the main qualities should be composure, attentiveness and restraint.
Caruana’s trainer, Vladimir Chuchelov, once said that Fabiano’s preparations for the championships did not last as long as you might think from his games. Despite the short workout, she invariably came out intense.
Strongest opponents
Caruana’s phenomenal abilities in breaking the stereotype of the invincibility of many legendary chess players have been repeatedly mentioned. In frequent battles with Carlsen, Nakamura, the young man feels confident, despite the outcome of the party. However, if he was lucky with such strong and already well-known opponents, then with new talents he clearly felt competition.
In a contest with Anish Giri, a strong Dutch chess player, Fabiano felt no longer so indestructible. Both young grandmasters fought hard to the last. As a result, in the game of Giri Anish: Caruana Fabiano, the result showed that the latter is still a little more experienced than the young Dutchman. The victory was in the hands of Fabiano.
An equally difficult party for the young man was the party Sergey Karjakin: Fabiano Caruana. Russian chess player Sergey Karjakin, a man listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest grandmaster in the world, met Fabiano at the Candidates Tournament. As several games played showed, the most likely outcome is the victory of one of these young people. Judging by the rating of the games played, both have 7 points, which means that in the final it is these chess players who will compete for the chance to take the World Champion title from Carlsen. The 2016 Candidates Tournament will determine the worthy and will probably be the brightest career page in the life of the winner.
Personal life
Regarding personal relationships with someone, an American chess player constantly jokes both on camera and in the face of journalists. A true workaholic in his favorite business, Caruana replies that chess so far takes first place in his life. Will it always be so, only time can show. But for now, not having a girlfriend and having an amazing character, sense of humor and natural charm, the young man is open for communication always and with everyone.
Awards, titles and achievements
During his career, Fabiano became a two-time champion of Spain, as well as a champion of tournaments in many cities, such as Zurich and Reykjavik. Having won a game of classical chess with the reigning world champion, Caruana automatically became a member of Mikhail Chigorin's club in 2013.
Speaking brilliantly at the Grand Prix, the young chess player discovered the path to the most grandiose tournament, the prize of which is the title of World Champion. In this tournament, he will have to fight many legends, and the winner will have the honor to fight Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Champion, in the Candidates Tournament.
Current activity
Now Fabiano is actively involved in many competitions around the world. His abilities are still surprised, and the young chess player, meanwhile, is gaining experience and strength for the decisive tournament in 2016.
Perhaps in the fall of this year, his fate will be decided as one of the strongest chess players in history.