This Grandmaster was MADE
Fabiano Caruana, and the tale of the parents who gave it all
How does the old saying go? "[Expensive] Education is Everything"?
Did you know that parents spend HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars to give kids the best chess education possible? Here’s just one story of how success in chess can indeed be bought, and it costs more than just money.
Caruana’s family has (literally) moved all over the world in pursuit of the best chess education that money can buy. And you know what? It has paid off BIG TIME. Here is a brief summary of Caruana’s path to greatness.
Meet Fabiano Caruana, one of America’s (and Italy’s) top chess players in the game today.
A dual citizen of both Italy and the United States, Caruana became the youngest American Grandmaster (at the time) AND STILL IS the youngest Italian GM ever. Fabiano achieved GM status in 2007 after winning the Italian Chess Championship at just 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days old.
Born 30-July-1992 in Miami, Caruana’s family moved to the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY before Fabiano reached the first grade. It was in New York that it became clear to the Caruana Family that Fabiano could be great… At just 6 years of age, Caruana was playing in tournaments around the city, playing in his first tournament in Queens in 1998.
Soon thereafter, Caruana’s father, Lou, was no longer able to teach Fabiano anything due to his son’s exceptional talent. This is when Fabiano Caruana’s future ‘career’ began to take shape.
In another neighborhood of Brooklyn known for being an enclave for Russian & Ukrainian immigrants, lived Chess Grandmaster Miron Sher. Sher owned & ran a chess magazine at the time, and Caruana quickly contracted Sher for personal coaching for the better part of the next 5 years.
In an interview that Lou Caruana gave some years after, he reported that the Caruana Family was spending between $50,000-$60,000 a year on chess coaching during this time in New York.
It was worth it. During the 4 years & 10 months under Sher’s tutelage of the young boy, Fabiano Caruana’s official FIDE (International Chess Federation) rating went from 1300 to 2305, making Caruana a “Life Master” before he was 11 years old.
The Caruana Family was not content with his meteoric rise in the ratings, though. How do the best competitors improve? They go to where the competition is the toughest.
At the time, the the best players in the world were in Europe, and the toughest tournaments were there too. So, in 2004, Caruana Family moved to Europe in pursuit of Fabiano’s ascent, first moving to Madrid, Spain.
Caruana’s European Exploits
The Caruana Family first moved to Madrid in order to train with International Master Boris Zlotnik, who Caruana would train with for the next 3 years, playing in tournaments under the Italian federation (representation). It was during his time under Zlotnik that Caruana earned all three Grandmaster norms and achieved GM status playing in the world’s toughest tournaments at the time. Fabiano had achieved FIDE rating of 2497 by 2007.
Naturally, the Caruana Family didn’t stop there, moving to Budapest, Hungary in 2007 in order to train with GM Alexander Chernin. There, Caruana would continue to represent Italy in tournaments around Europe. During his time under the tutelage of Chernin, Caruana would continue his ascent up the ratings, achieving 2700 in September of 2010.
Also in 2010, the Caruana Family moved from Budapest to Lugano, Switzerland in order to train with GM Vladimir Chuchelov, where the family lived & Fabiano trained out of until 2014 when the Caruana Family moved back to the United States.
The Caruana Family’s ROI
ROI (Return on Investment) guides most of what companies, students, and most people in general spend their money on. For example, one might view a college education in this way: “If I spend $100,000 on this education, I can reasonably expect to make that money back in X years if I apply my education appropriately.”
The thing about investments is: you expect to get something in return. In this case, the family gave so much in order to get a successful career for their son in return.
What the Caruana Family understood very early on was that the investment (would) pay off, if the Caruana Family applied Fabiano’s training appropriately. This is of course, not just money we are talking about. The family literally moved around the world (in addition to shelling out massive amounts of money in personal coaching) for Fabiano’s pursuits. Call it ‘support’ or ‘investment’ - it doesn’t make a difference. The family were going to see their returns.
Enter the US Chess Federation and self-described “Independent Philanthropy Professional” Rex Sinquefield, retired financier and multi-millionaire (2021 net worth reportedly over $500M), who had recently established the Saint Louis Chess Club in his hometown, St. Louis, Missouri.
As Fabiano Caruana was born in Miami, there had been coordinated efforts to get him to play on behalf of the United States for several years. The US Chess Federation had a vested interest in enticing Caruana to play on behalf of the US, and had been attempting to “encourage” Fabiano Caruana to do so since 2010.
While the exact figures are not known to the public, we know that reportedly, Fabiano Caruana was offered at least $200,000 per year from Sinquefield to play for the United States, and to be based out of St. Louis. Needless to say, Fabiano Caruana & Family currently reside in Saint Louis, Missouri where Caruana proudly represents the US Chess Federation.
In addition to “financial support” (as it is officially termed) from Sinquefield, Caruana has also won multiple tournaments with impressive prize-pools. A sample list is below.
Live Tournament Winnings (Not all-inclusive):
2018 World Championship in London (runner up): $511,400
2014 Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis: $100,000
2017 London Chess Classic: $62,500
2017 Grand Chess Tour: $95,000
2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin: $95,000
2020 Online Tournament Winnings (Not all-inclusive)
Tata Steel Chess (winner): $11,196
Magnus Carlsen Invitational (4th): $30,000
Clutch Chess International (2nd): $58,000
Clutch Chess USA (2nd): $38,000
Champions Showdown 2020 3rd): $17,500
Chessable Maters (8th): $8,000
Altibox Norway Chess (4th): $20,610
As of the date of publishing, GM Fabiano Caruana is the 2nd-ranked player in the entire world (behind Norway’s Magnus Carlsen).
Fabiano Caruana’s Parents Made it all Possible
The future of chess includes Fabiano Caruana on the main stage. I’m happy he will be representing the United States for the foreseeable future.
We can only wonder if Fabiano’s parents, Lou and Santina, had envisioned the life that their son enjoys now. I believe that the sacrifices & financial investments that Lou and Santina Caruana made are the only reason that Fabiano Caruana is who he is today.
During the time of an adolescent’s peak development years, Lou and Santina gave everything they had & more to Fabiano’s craft. What amazes me is the extent to which Mr. & Mrs. Caruana invested their entire lives to the training of their boy.
As a parent, I like to think I’d do anything help my daughter, but I cannot say that moving around the world to pursue her career aspirations are ‘in the cards’ for me. Maybe my daughter is too young for me to envision such a thing. Or maybe, Lou and Santina Caruana are extremely special. I like to think the latter. I’d love to shake their hands and look them in the eyes sometime in the future.
Can chess supremacy be bought? Fabiano is a gifted, determined, hard-working young man who has himself devoted his life to chess. BUT, it’s hard to look at this story and ignore the obvious question: where would he be without his parents’ sacrifices?
If you like this article, please don’t forget to share it with your friends, and make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter!
Great article! Thanks for sharing such an inspiring story!