GM Caruana: Azerbaijan renown for its high-level organization of chess events

/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

Fabiano Caruana, the U.S.-born Italian chess grandmaster, is among the top stars, who will attend the 42nd World Chess Olympiad to be held in Baku this September.

The 24-year-old grandmaster, speaking about his expectations from the tournament, mentioned that the Baku Chess Olympiad is one of the main tournaments of the chess world.

“The Olympiad will bring together chess teams from all over the world, including the U.S chess team. It's not right to speak about the outcome of the tournament ahead of the event. Most of the teams will perform with the main composition of players, which means strong competition. In any case, we are waiting for an interesting tournament. We will compete for the best results", said Caruana.

With 2,000 chess masters from 180 counties, FIDE’s biennial chess tournament, will gather teams from all over the world to compete for the best title.  The Olympiad, scheduled for September 1-14, will take place in the Crystal Hall of Baku.

Asked about his rivals at the Olympiad, Caruana said he respects all teams, mentioning that there are no weak opponents at the World Chess Olympiad.

"There will be ambitious teams at the tournament. I’d like to mention the national teams of Russia, Ukraine and China. The Azerbaijani team also has experienced players and they will compete for medals in their hometown," he added.

“The U.S. team brings together good players. So, we would like to show best results at the Chess Olympiad. For this, we need to avoid mistakes as much as possible. Regulations force the teams to be careful. A failure in any round will seriously affect the position of the team.”

Caruana, speaking about the host city Baku, recalled that he have participated in the competitions held in Azerbaijan for many times.

“I took part in World Cup in Baku last year. This year, I took the second place at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial held in Shamkir. Azerbaijan is always renowned for its high-level organization of tournaments", he said.

Caruana is the current US champion.

At age 10, Fabiano became the youngest American to defeat a Grandmaster in an official tournament, and by age 12 he had obtained the international title of FIDE Master.

Subsequent achievements included winning several national scholastic championships, as well as two gold medals at the Pan-American Youth Championships. In 2004, he and his family relocated from the United States to Europe so that he could better pursue a professional chess career.

At the 2014 Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis Missouri, he scores one of the best tournament performances in the history of chess: Clear first with 8.5 points from 10 games, and 3 full points clear ahead of the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, including an astonishing streak of seven consecutive wins!

Today, Fabiano is one of the hottest players on the global scene and is tipped by many to become World Champion in the very near future.

He is considered perhaps the top rival to world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway.