Fabiano Caruana

Caruana represented the United States on at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, winning team gold and individual bronze.

In addition to classical chess, Caruana is highly ranked in rapid and blitz.

Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning three-time United States Chess Champion.

With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.

Born in Miami to Italian parents, Caruana grew up in Brooklyn.

Caruana was born on July 30, 1992, in Miami, Florida, United States, to Italian parents Lou and Santina Caruana.

He is a dual citizen of Italy and the United States.

When he was four, his family relocated from Miami to the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York City.

When he was five, his chess talent was discovered in an after-school chess program at Congregation Beth Elohim, a reform Jewish congregation in Park Slope.

That year he played his first tournament at the Polgar Chess Center in Queens, New York City.

Until the age of twelve, he lived and played in the United States, occasionally traveling to Europe and South America to participate in tournaments.

His first chess coach, from age six to eight, was National Master (NM) Bruce Pandolfini, and from age eight to twelve, he studied with GM Miron Sher.

In 2004, he relocated with his family from Brooklyn to Madrid, Spain to pursue a professional chess career, playing for Italy from 2005 to 2015.

A chess prodigy, Caruana played for the United States until 2005, when he transferred his national federation affiliation to Italy.

In 2006, he was the co-champion of Italy by tying with Michele Godena but losing the fifth rapid play-off game.

He earned his grandmaster title in 2007 at the age of 14, and in the same year won his first Italian Chess Championship, a feat he repeated in 2008, 2010, and 2011.

He trained with International Master (IM) Boris Zlotnik in Madrid, and in 2007 he moved to Budapest to train with grandmaster Alexander Chernin.

In 2007, he won with a score of +8 (9½/11) to become the youngest ever Italian champion.

In January, Caruana had his first experience at Corus C and throughout much of the tournament he was the clear leader.

His last round opponent was Parimarjan Negi, and Caruana needed ½ point to win the tournament.

Caruana won the game in 61 moves and the tournament with a final score of +7 (10/13) and performance of 2696.

April saw him playing in the Ruy Lopez Festival which included a seven-round closed tournament, and a two-day rapid open tournament.

In the seven round closed tournament, Caruana had a disappointing result of −2 (2½/7) with performance of 2513.

The two-day rapid open tournament that followed was won by Caruana with a score of +6 (7½/9) followed by Michael Adams, Julio Granda Zuniga, and Dzhurabek Khamrakulov all with a score of +5 (7/9).

In June Caruana played first board for Italy at the Mitropa Cup, which is a four-board team competition amongst 10 "middle" European nations.

He scored +6 (7½/9) winning the first board prize with performance of 2810.

In 2010, he moved to Lugano, Switzerland, and, at the end of that year, started to train with grandmaster Vladimir Chuchelov.

In 2014, Caruana won the Sinquefield Cup, recording a 3098 performance rating, the highest in history at the elite level.

By winning the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, Caruana qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2016, where he placed second after Sergey Karjakin.

He moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 2014.

In July, Caruana won the "First Saturday" GM tournament in Budapest with seven points out of nine games.

He obtained his final GM norm and at age 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days, became the youngest grandmaster of both the United States and Italy, surpassing the US record set by Hikaru Nakamura.

Caruana played the strong Vlissingen chess tournament in the Netherlands in August.

His last round opponent was former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

Caruana, playing black, drew the game in 82 moves, and won the tournament with a performance of 2715.

In November and December, Caruana participated in the Italian Championship.

He transferred his national federation affiliation back to the United States in 2015, and in 2016, won the US Chess Championship.

He won the following Candidates Tournament 2018, becoming the first American challenger for the undisputed World Chess Championship since Bobby Fischer in 1972.

In the run-up to the championship match, he won the Grenke Chess Classic, Norway Chess, and shared first in the Sinquefield Cup.

Caruana lost the World Chess Championship to Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreaks after drawing all twelve of the classical games.