Fabiano Caruana to be first American to challenge for World Chess Championship since Bobby Fischer

[Guestx]

Happy days in the American chess world!

We've been waiting for this for a long time.

In what's being billed as a historic result for American chess, 25-year-old Fabiano Caruana has emerged after an 18-day competition in Berlin, Germany, as the next challenger for the World Championship title. He will face off against reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in November in a 12-game one-on-one match.

A U.S. grandmaster hasn't won the title of undisputed champion since 1972, when Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky of the USSR.

The qualifying tournament was close, with two rounds left and five of the eight players able to come out on top. It wasn't until Caruana's crucial win against Armenia's Levon Aronian in the penultimate round that put him half a point ahead of his closest rivals.

"Congratulations to Fabiano Caruana, who wins the #Candidates2018 in style, by a full point!" the U.S. Chess Federation tweeted.

"It is a great honor to represent my home country," Caruana said in a statement. "The Candidates Tournament win is the culmination of months of hard work, and I'm elated -- simply without words."

Carlsen, the current World Champion, has been a grandmaster since age 13. He has held the world title since 2013 and defended it in 2016 in New York City.

"We think that Fabiano is the single most dangerous challenger that Magnus could face," Yasser Seirawan, a four-time U.S. champion and chess grandmaster, told CBS News. The two have met on numerous occasions before, and while Caruana has claimed a handful of victories, Carlsen has won almost twice as many of their match-ups. "He has tasted the blood," said Seirawan.

Caruana said, "I look forward to going back to St. Louis to prepare for dethroning Magnus."

Caruana moved to St. Louis, a hotspot for chess, after relocating from his hometown in Miami. He leads the American team in the chess olympiads as the first board and with his guidance the team won gold for the first time since 1976.

"This is one of the most significant and historical achievements for American chess in years," Rex Sinquefield, founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club, said. "To have an American play for the World Championship will help elevate chess to levels it has not seen since the early 1970s."

The match will take place November 9-28 in London, but St. Louis is rumored to be launching a bid to bring the match home, a move which could include a prize pot far in excess of the $1 million being offered in London.

"I wouldn't want to speculate," said Seirawan, "but suffice to say that it would be significantly higher."

Full article here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fabiano-caruana-vs-magnus-carlsen-world-chess-championship-2018-match/

 

[TheNinja]

 

[mb23100]

I like playing chess but can't even pretend to care about this

 

[Aquabot]

The Candidates was absolutely crazy. Caruana deserved to win for sure. I thought Aronian would come in and take it but he just imploded after the first round. Caruana played Carlsen a few days ago for the Grenke tournament and Carlsen missed a win but it was a great crazy game. That game is probably the best ad they could put out for the match. The match in November should bring more eyes on chess. Wonder if St. Louis will try and get the match moved to the US which would be the best venue in my opinion. I am really looking forward to this match as Caruana does not play like Karjakin so we should get a much better world championship match than the grinding 6 hour borefests we got in 2016. Caruana has a real legit shot at dethroning Magnus and bringing the championship back to the US. Its an exciting time for the game now that everyone has embraced stuff like Twitch and YouTube streaming.

 

[Cherry Brigand]

Name is too ethnic. Should be on the other side of the wall.

 

[Guestx]

The Candidates was absolutely crazy.

I wish I had seen it. My attention toward the chess world comes and goes, but I would've liked to have followed the lead-up to Caruana winning.

Wonder if St. Louis will try and get the match moved to the US which would be the best venue in my opinion.

It seems unlikely that the US would host the World Championship twice in a row, but on the other hand you would think the players would want it to be held wherever they can make the most money.

Caruana has a real legit shot at dethroning Magnus and bringing the championship back to the US.

That would be awesome. I know that Magnus has beaten Caruana at a ratio of like 2-to-1 but it would be fantastic if Caruana could become the champ. I'd be interest to see if that sparks any kind of boom in American chess.

Its an exciting time for the game now that everyone has embraced stuff like Twitch and YouTube streaming.

How did people even watch the WC before the Internet? I didn't play chess at all then.

Did it air on TV? Was it a PPV?

 

[MadSquabbles500]

With a name like that, I have tried other things in my youth to fully exploit that. Girls love those ethnic sounding romance language names.

Its like a Gino Torretta, or a Cristiano Ronaldo, and even a Donte DiVincenzo (too bad he a ginger). I would have tried out for QB on the football team if I was growing up in South Florida.

 

[Madmick]

Hadn't seen this. Freaking awesome. I've viewed analysis of several of their games on YouTube including the most recent Isle of Man match, and once even caught a speed match between them broadcast live either on Chess24 or Chess.com. It seemed like everyone expected Nakamura to be Carlsen's immediate challenge, since they seem to meet up so much, but of course his specialty is the bullet and blitz formats. I'll trust in Yasser's analysis. Still don't like his chances, obviously.

American chess is better than ever, and it's all thanks to this stud:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Sinquefield

Props, Rex. You're a giant.

 

[Madmick]

Name is too ethnic. Should be on the other side of the wall.

I'm not sure if we've ever had as many grandmasters in the Top 10 as we do now (3), and they're all immigrants born outside the states.

 

[MikeMcMann]

...

Did it air on TV? Was it a PPV?

I heard they did a couple million in PPV views and now Conor says he is coming for that belt too!


Caruana v.s. McGregor

 

[Guestx]

I'm not sure if we've ever had as many grandmasters in the Top 10 as we do now (3), and they're all immigrants born outside the states.

Caruana was actually born in Miami, and then later moved to New York and lived there until he was 12. Then he went to Italy for a little while.

Nakamura, while born in Japan and technically an immigrant, was born to an American mother and moved to the US when he was only two years old so I think of him as homegrown as well.

 

[Guestx]

American chess is better than ever, and it's all thanks to this stud:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Sinquefield

Props, Rex. You're a giant.

Yeah, it's crazy how much he has done for chess. I'd love to get to St. Louis to check out the Chess Club and HoF there.

I've heard people say that St. Louis has essentially surmounted all of Russia as the chess center of the world now and it's, as you say, pretty much all thanks to Rex Sinquefield.

 

[RawHawg]

Fabiano vs Fabricio, who ya got?

 

[Madmick]

Caruana was actually born in Miami, and then later moved to New York and lived there until he was 12. Then he went to Italy for a little while.

Nakamura, while born in Japan and technically an immigrant, was born to an American mother and moved to the US when he was only two years old so I think of him as homegrown as well.

My bad on Caruana. I'd forgotten that Fabiano was born here, but I remember learning that he'd effectively grown to young adulthood in Italy, and had to switch federations to join our squad.

With regard to Nakamura I was simply pointing out his technical status as an immigrant because obviously he speaks perfect English if you watch his videos. Most kids like that I know are born on military bases over there, like Kobe, but he wasn't one of those.

 

[Guestx]

My bad on Caruana. I'd forgotten that Fabiano was born here, but I remember learning that he'd effectively grown to young adulthood in Italy, and had to switch federations to join our squad.

With regard to Nakamura I was simply pointing out his technical status as an immigrant because obviously he speaks perfect English if you watch his videos. Most kids like that I know are born on military bases over there, like Kobe, but he wasn't one of those.

It IS interesting that all of our top guys have some kind of ties to a foreign land.

Of course Wesley is, like, totally foreign.

 

[Kirin]

The Candidates was absolutely crazy. Caruana deserved to win for sure. I thought Aronian would come in and take it but he just imploded after the first round. Caruana played Carlsen a few days ago for the Grenke tournament and Carlsen missed a win but it was a great crazy game. That game is probably the best ad they could put out for the match. The match in November should bring more eyes on chess. Wonder if St. Louis will try and get the match moved to the US which would be the best venue in my opinion. I am really looking forward to this match as Caruana does not play like Karjakin so we should get a much better world championship match than the grinding 6 hour borefests we got in 2016. Caruana has a real legit shot at dethroning Magnus and bringing the championship back to the US. Its an exciting time for the game now that everyone has embraced stuff like Twitch and YouTube streaming.

Not sure what "deserved" has to do with anything. Both aronian and grischuk played like dogshit in those last two rounds against him, basically serving him the tournament on a silver platter.
His win vs kramnik was also fortuitous, considering how the former world champion snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory there.
Overall, I think he'll be a good challenger though. I definitely prefer him over the sleazy scumbbag, mamedyarov.

Kinda tired of hearing how karjakin was to blame for the match vs carlsen being boring. How often do the people making those claims even watch carlsen play? It's his style to play completely equal positions then manouevre for hours waiting for his opponent to make slight inaccuracies in a drawn out endgame. If you watched the World Cup in Azerbaijan a couple of years ago, you'd realize that karjakin is actually a very exciting player. Not a lot you can do when your opponent is dead set on playing 4. d3 lines in the spanish ad nauseam.

In a match between caruana and carlsen, I will certainly root for fabiano to emerge victorious, but considering his play vs the current world champion over the past few years, I'd be surprised if he wins more than one game.

 

[Fawlty]

Will be rooting for (insert chess player) to come out with some innovations and drag (insert chess player) alongside him through a minefield of brilliance and blunders that leaves the commentators questioning reality.

But rooting for Carlsen regardless. It will probably be boring.

 

[Madmick]

Not sure what "deserved" has to do with anything. Both aronian and grischuk played like dogshit in those last two rounds against him, basically serving him the tournament on a silver platter.
His win vs kramnik was also fortuitous, considering how the former world champion snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory there.
Overall, I think he'll be a good challenger though. I definitely prefer him over the sleazy scumbbag, mamedyarov.

Kinda tired of hearing how karjakin was to blame for the match vs carlsen being boring. How often do the people making those claims even watch carlsen play? It's his style to play completely equal positions then manouevre for hours waiting for his opponent to make slight inaccuracies in a drawn out endgame. If you watched the World Cup in Azerbaijan a couple of years ago, you'd realize that karjakin is actually a very exciting player. Not a lot you can do when your opponent is dead set on playing 4. d3 lines in the spanish ad nauseam.

In a match between caruana and carlsen, I will certainly root for fabiano to emerge victorious, but considering his play vs the current world champion over the past few years, I'd be surprised if he wins more than one game.

Watching Caruana vs. Kramnik thanks to this post.

Also love the commentary on Carlsen. As someone who sucks at endgames it resonates. Inverted, his style is quite similar, in that way, to prime Tiger Woods when Tiger would just play for par on Par 3's & 4's from Thursday-Saturday while potentially building a lead from Par 5's only to turn on the heat Sunday if he needed, but otherwise content to play it smart and safe hoping to build that lead that nobody could close because the risk-to-reward balance was so heavily tilted in his favor after the first three days, usually.

 

[Guestx]

Interesting article on Caruana:

http://theconversation.com/fabiano-...her-heres-the-path-he-took-to-get-there-94149