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An Interview with Fabiano Caruana
January 30, 2018
This interview from Deadspin. The site posts commentaries, recaps, and previews of the major sports stories of the day, as well as sports-related anecdotes, rumors and YouTube videos.
Fabiano Caruana Tells Us What The Life Of A Chess Grandmaster Is Really Like
Ben Tippett
https://deadspin.com/fabiano-caruana...and-1822282197
Some excerpts:
Ben: For those wondering how a person comes to be a professional chess player, can you describe your career trajectory? At what age did you start playing?
Fabiano Caruana: I started around the age of five. I was around five, six, and it was just an after-school program, playing other kids and a few teachers. I don't remember exactly who noticed my talent or if I was immediately very good, but the teacher there recommended to my parents that I pursue chess, and I was playing more or less as a hobby when I was a kid, and then at some point it became professional for me.
What was behind the decision to move to Europe [when you were 12]?
That was my parents' decision entirely. I wanted to stay in the U.S. [laughs] I had friends in the U.S. and my family was there and my home was there, but my parents wanted to visit Europe and explore a few countries for a few years, and it ended up being pretty much a decade that we were in Europe. The idea was to pursue chess professionally, and that's what I did. I started working pretty much all day, working with coaches in Spain and Hungary and Switzerland. We travelled Europe for about 10 years, and I pretty much played chess non-stop. I would play 100 games a year or something, for 10 years. And I went from a decent, talented kid level, to pretty much a strong Grandmaster level by the time I came back.
And what was behind that decision to come back to the U.S. [in 2015]?
I just wanted to come back at that point. The U.S. has always felt like home, so I wanted to come back, and it felt like after 10 years and more financial security-by the time I left Europe I was supporting myself and could live on my own-it was time to come back.
What's the best game you've ever played?
That's a tough question. There are a lot of games which I've really enjoyed, like my game against [Levon] Aronian from the Sinquefield Cup 2014, that was one game I thought was one of my best games ever, and I was really proud of that game. A bunch of games from that tournament were pretty good, because that was the best performance I've ever had.
If you were the almighty ruler of the chess world for a day, what would you change?
I think that chess could be marketed better. It could be presented better to the public. It's not so easy, it's not the most attractive game for people to look at, I mean you really have to-for the average person, it's maybe not so interesting to look at a game, you have to know what's going on. So to bring it to the outside public I think you need top-class commentary to explain the moves, and also you need to make it exciting, and create a story around tournaments. Usually tournaments are just played, and chess fans look at them, but people from the outside world don't really pay much attention. So, I think what they're doing in St. Louis is great, they're trying to market chess for a broader audience and trying to find new things, different things, which will make it interesting-sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It's a process of trial-and-error, but I still think there's a long way to go and I hope that someday we're able to bring chess to the outside world, not just to chess fans, but to everyone.
At this stage of their careers, which of these junior players would you bet on to go the farthest: [2017 World Junior Chess Champion] Aryan Tari, [2016 Dutch Chess Champion] Jorden van Foreest, or [12-year old wizard who may soon become the youngest Grandmaster in history] Praggnanandhaa?
They're all at such different ages. I would probably say Praggnanandhaa, I mean, he's already so strong at such a young age and he's obviously massively talented. I don't know how old Jorden is, I'd say probably 17, 18, around that age, so he's very strong, normally at this age or very soon he'll have to break into the elite group, or at least 2700+. But who knows, every player has their own personal progress and trajectory. And Aryan, he's very good as well, he won the World Junior Championship. Of the three I'd say Praggnanandhaa has the best chance.
_________
See the whole interview, which is really quite entertaining.
January 30, 2018
This interview from Deadspin. The site posts commentaries, recaps, and previews of the major sports stories of the day, as well as sports-related anecdotes, rumors and YouTube videos.
Fabiano Caruana Tells Us What The Life Of A Chess Grandmaster Is Really Like
Ben Tippett
https://deadspin.com/fabiano-caruana...and-1822282197
Some excerpts:
Ben: For those wondering how a person comes to be a professional chess player, can you describe your career trajectory? At what age did you start playing?
Fabiano Caruana: I started around the age of five. I was around five, six, and it was just an after-school program, playing other kids and a few teachers. I don't remember exactly who noticed my talent or if I was immediately very good, but the teacher there recommended to my parents that I pursue chess, and I was playing more or less as a hobby when I was a kid, and then at some point it became professional for me.
What was behind the decision to move to Europe [when you were 12]?
That was my parents' decision entirely. I wanted to stay in the U.S. [laughs] I had friends in the U.S. and my family was there and my home was there, but my parents wanted to visit Europe and explore a few countries for a few years, and it ended up being pretty much a decade that we were in Europe. The idea was to pursue chess professionally, and that's what I did. I started working pretty much all day, working with coaches in Spain and Hungary and Switzerland. We travelled Europe for about 10 years, and I pretty much played chess non-stop. I would play 100 games a year or something, for 10 years. And I went from a decent, talented kid level, to pretty much a strong Grandmaster level by the time I came back.
And what was behind that decision to come back to the U.S. [in 2015]?
I just wanted to come back at that point. The U.S. has always felt like home, so I wanted to come back, and it felt like after 10 years and more financial security-by the time I left Europe I was supporting myself and could live on my own-it was time to come back.
What's the best game you've ever played?
That's a tough question. There are a lot of games which I've really enjoyed, like my game against [Levon] Aronian from the Sinquefield Cup 2014, that was one game I thought was one of my best games ever, and I was really proud of that game. A bunch of games from that tournament were pretty good, because that was the best performance I've ever had.
If you were the almighty ruler of the chess world for a day, what would you change?
I think that chess could be marketed better. It could be presented better to the public. It's not so easy, it's not the most attractive game for people to look at, I mean you really have to-for the average person, it's maybe not so interesting to look at a game, you have to know what's going on. So to bring it to the outside public I think you need top-class commentary to explain the moves, and also you need to make it exciting, and create a story around tournaments. Usually tournaments are just played, and chess fans look at them, but people from the outside world don't really pay much attention. So, I think what they're doing in St. Louis is great, they're trying to market chess for a broader audience and trying to find new things, different things, which will make it interesting-sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It's a process of trial-and-error, but I still think there's a long way to go and I hope that someday we're able to bring chess to the outside world, not just to chess fans, but to everyone.
At this stage of their careers, which of these junior players would you bet on to go the farthest: [2017 World Junior Chess Champion] Aryan Tari, [2016 Dutch Chess Champion] Jorden van Foreest, or [12-year old wizard who may soon become the youngest Grandmaster in history] Praggnanandhaa?
They're all at such different ages. I would probably say Praggnanandhaa, I mean, he's already so strong at such a young age and he's obviously massively talented. I don't know how old Jorden is, I'd say probably 17, 18, around that age, so he's very strong, normally at this age or very soon he'll have to break into the elite group, or at least 2700+. But who knows, every player has their own personal progress and trajectory. And Aryan, he's very good as well, he won the World Junior Championship. Of the three I'd say Praggnanandhaa has the best chance.
_________
See the whole interview, which is really quite entertaining.