Fabiano Caruana

The prodigy who broke the record held by GM Hikaru Nakamura for America's youngest chess grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana, has climbed the mountain of chess and reached the summit. This grandmaster has had a ranking as high as number-two in the world and has won numerous tournaments in his career. In 2018 the American faced GM Magnus Carlsen at the World Chess Championship in London in 2018, losing in the tiebreak playoffs. He is also a four-time U.S. chess champion (2016 and 2022-24).

Caruana was born on July 30, 1992, in Miami, Florida. His natural grasp for chess was discovered at the age of five in an after-school chess program when he moved to New York. His first chess coach was National Master Bruce Pandolfini, a well-known chess author. Caruana later was coached by GMs Miron Sher and Alexander Chernin.

He became a FIDE master in 2002 and an international master in 2006. A year later, at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days, Caruana became the youngest grandmaster in the United States and Italy. Shortly after earning the grandmaster title, he won the Italian Chess Championship, becoming the youngest ever Italian champion.

Teenage Years
The Italian grandmaster kicked off 2008 by winning the Tata Steel Group C section, earning him a spot in 2009's Group B event. Caruana then made his Olympiad debut in the same year, representing Italy on the top board in the Dresden Olympiad. After a 7.5/11 finish, Caruana then won the Italian Championship again, earning back-to-back titles. He finished the year entering the world's top-100 players in October with a rating of 2640.

In 2009 Caruana won the Tata Steel Group B after beating English grandmaster Nigel Short in the final round. After strong performances in both the Russian Team Championships and the Mitropa Cup, Caruana was nominated to play in the 2009 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, where he beat GMs Lazaro Bruzon, Leinier Dominguez, and Evgeny Alekseev before losing to GM Vugar Gashimov.

After missing the 2009 Italian Chess Championships to compete in the FIDE World Cup, Caruana won the event twice more in 2010 and 2011, his fourth and final time winning the Italian Championship. By the end of 2011, Caruana had jumped in the world rankings, reaching number 17 in the live rankings and a rating well over 2700.

Rise To The World's Top 10
In 2012 Caruana continued to improve. After a second-place tie in the A section of the Tata Steel Tournament, Caruana went on a streak, winning first in the Reykjavik Open, Sigeman and Co. Chess Tournament, and the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. In the same year, Caruana also finished second in both the Tal Memorial and the Grand Slam Chess Final. By January 2013, Caruana was ranked fifth in the world rankings with a rating of 2781.

Caruana spent much of 2013 trying to qualify for the 2014 Candidates tournament through the FIDE Grand Prix. After placing third in Zug, second in Thessaloniki, and winning the circuit in Paris, Caruana had amassed 380 points, narrowly missing an automatic qualification to the Candidates.

In 2014 Caruana finished second in both Shamkir Chess and Norway Chess, behind Carlsen in each event.

His most memorable win of 2014 came against Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov in the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, a tournament Caruana ultimately won:

Caruana won a silver medal in the World Rapid Championships in Dubai, just a half-point behind first place. He then represented Italy on the first board once again at the 2014 Olympiad in Tromso, Norway.

Upon the conclusion of the Olympiad, Caruana then returned to the United States, where he won the Sinquefield Cup with a memorable seven-game winning streak.