{"id":11761,"date":"2018-04-02T01:05:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T01:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11761"},"modified":"2018-04-03T01:07:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T01:07:46","slug":"fabiano-caruana-is-poised-to-do-what-no-american-has-done-since-bobby-fischer-heres-the-path-he-took-to-get-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/fabiano-caruana-is-poised-to-do-what-no-american-has-done-since-bobby-fischer-heres-the-path-he-took-to-get-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabiano Caruana is poised to do what no American has done since Bobby Fischer. Here’s the path he took to get there"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daaim Shabazz<\/a>, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University <\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever a glimmer of chess talent is spotted in the United States, people often ask: \u201cIs this the next Bobby Fischer?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, a diminutive, bespectacled young boy \u2013 who by age 9 was already battling seasoned competitors in top-level sections \u2013 had his name added to the roster of Fischer aspirants.<\/p>\n

His name is Fabiano Caruana.<\/p>\n

Fabiano, now 25, has finally earned the right to challenge reigning chess champion Magnus Carlsen for the world championship crown this November in London. On March 27, he won the 2018 Candidates Tournament<\/a> in thrilling fashion. <\/p>\n

If Fabiano defeats Magnus this fall, he will become the first American to hold the world title since Fischer beat the Soviet Union\u2019s Boris Spassky in their epic match. Fischer\u2019s victory set off a wave of interest known as the \u201cFischer Boom,\u201d attracting thousands of new chess enthusiasts. His achievement was celebrated as a symbolic victory for the U.S. since the world title had been held exclusively by Soviet players for the previous quarter century during the Cold War era.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Chess star Bobby Fischer, pictured in New York in 1962.<\/span>
\n John Lent\/AP<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Will a Fabiano victory set off another \u201cboom\u201d the way Fischer\u2019s victory did in the 1970s? That remains to be seen. But what is certain is that Fabiano\u2019s progress as a chess player \u2013 which I have observed and followed<\/a> for many years as a journalist<\/a> for The Chess Drum<\/a> \u2013 is more than just his rise to stardom. His evolution makes a good case study for homeschooling and other ways of learning that enable young people to break free from the static environment of formal education in order to pursue their passions. It also makes for a good case study of what talent looks like in its earliest stages.<\/p>\n

Composed and Confident<\/h2>\n

Over the years, I have witnessed talented \u201cjuniors\u201d in the chess world and studied their composure at the chess board. From the earliest times when I first saw Fabiano, I noticed something different about how the Miami-born, Brooklyn-bred boy of Italian ancestry approached the game. Attentive and engaged, Fabiano carried unmistakable energy, focus and determination. <\/p>\n

After playing in the same tournament section with Fabiano in the early 2000s, I observed how he would set the plastic chess figurines perfectly on the checkered squares and sit in anticipation of his opponent. Despite his size, his sense of confidence was impressive. I continued to follow his progress.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Author\u2019s photo of Fabiano Caruana at the 2003 Foxwoods Open chess tournament.<\/span>
\n Daaim Shabazz<\/a>, Author provided<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Magnus Carlsen\u2019s rise to stardom is well-known in chess circles and chronicled in the biography, \u201cWonder Boy.\u201d<\/a> Fabiano\u2019s story has some similarities. Parents grapple with ideas to help their children realize their unique set of talents. Fabiano\u2019s parents \u2013 Lou and Santina Caruana<\/a>\u2013 made a tough decision and decided to move to Hungary to foster his chess development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maliq Matthew, a sociology professor at the University of Cincinnati, told me about Fabiano from his chess-playing days in New York. He recalled his concern on whether Lou was taking too big a risk in moving Fabiano to Europe to pursue a chess career when his talent trajectory for chess was still uncertain. \u201cI remember when he was leaving, and we were wondering if (Fabiano\u2019s father) Lou was going too far in,\u201d Matthew said.<\/p>\n

The elder Caruana told The New York Times<\/a> about the decision to move to Europe in a 2007 interview. \u201cIt was hard to evaluate. It was more of a risk than what we had realized at the time,\u201d Lou Caruana said. \u201cBut it did work out.\u201d Bobby Fischer had also left school at age 16<\/a> to focus his energy solely on chess.<\/p>\n

The making of a world-class player<\/h2>\n

Once inside European chess circles, Fabiano had access to world-class trainers and stronger competition. In retrospect, it appears that his experience abroad helped him to channel the toughness that he developed from the hardscrabble chess scene in New York. During his 10-year stint in Europe<\/a>, he took a vaulted leap, won a number of strong tournaments and steadily increased in the world rankings. <\/p>\n

In 2014, Fabiano climbed to the No. 2 spot in the world chess rankings<\/a> and made history by starting the 2014 Sinquefield Cup<\/a> with seven straight wins<\/a>. This field included Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion, who hails from Norway. At the press conference, I asked Fabiano<\/a> if he had ever thought he would become one of the world\u2019s top players. This was his response: <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, I didn\u2019t imagine that I would play chess professionally. I mean I always loved chess, but when I was a kid, it was just a hobby. After school I would go and play in the Marshall Chess Club<\/a> and I would play game 30s (30 minutes per game). I thought at some point that I would move away from chess, that I would keep going to school. But it worked out this way. I\u2019m very happy about it. But I didn\u2019t really have those thoughts when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning gold for the US<\/h2>\n

One can argue that Fabiano\u2019s experiences abroad were instrumental in the social maturation process and may have provided him with a very balanced perspective on life. In any case, the European stint charted a course for success.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Fabiano switched back to the U.S. Chess Federation<\/a> after deciding that it would provide him with a path to vie for the world championship. Unfortunately, he missed qualification in the 2016 World Candidates tournament<\/a> after a heartbreaking loss to Russia\u2019s Sergey Karjakin. Not to be deterred, Caruana won the U.S. Championship in 2016<\/a> for the first time and later that year helped the U.S. win the gold medal<\/a> at the Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

After a challenging 2017 campaign, he managed to qualify for the 2018 Candidates Tournament given his world ranking. Giving himself no more than a 15 percent chance<\/a> to win the tournament, he closed out the tournament with a last-round win, becoming the first American-born player since Bobby Fischer \u2013 and the second American since Gata Kamsky<\/a>, a Soviet-born American grandmaster \u2013 to vie for the title. The storyline of Thor versus Captain America immediately appeared on social media sites.<\/p>\n

Are there better learning models?<\/h2>\n

Some parents may seek to replicate the alternative methods of both Magnus and Fabiano, whose parents paved the way for their success. Top 10 player and four-time U.S. champion player Hikaru Nakamura was also home-schooled<\/a> by his mother and Sri Lankan stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry. In the preeminent experiment of chess, Laszlo Polgar \u2013 a Hungarian chess teacher and author of \u201cBring Up Genius!\u201d<\/a> \u2013 home-schooled daughters Susan, Sofia and Judit into world-class chess players. <\/p>\n

\"TheLaszlo Polgar argued in his book that \u201cgenius equals work and fortunate circumstances\u201d and \u201cgeniuses are made, not born.\u201d If Fabiano defeats Magnus for the world title later this year, it will give further testimony in support of this idea of the power of parents to shape their children\u2019s future outside the world of formal education \u2013 and chess will be at the center of the discussion.<\/p>\n

Daaim Shabazz<\/a>, Associate Professor of International Business, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University <\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daaim Shabazz, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Whenever a glimmer of chess talent is spotted in the United States, people often ask: \u201cIs this the next Bobby Fischer?\u201d In the early 2000s, a diminutive, bespectacled young boy \u2013 who by age 9 was already battling seasoned competitors in top-level sections \u2013 had his name added […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[1114,4268,4267,1625,4266],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11763,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11761\/revisions\/11763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}