Fabiano Caruana (1992) reached the #2 spot in the World Rankings in October 2014. A few months earlier the Italian grandmaster had crossed the 2800 Elo barrier. Caruana won elite tournaments in Dortmund (2012 and 2014) and in Zurich (2013), but the biggest success of his career so far is his victory at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, 2014, where his opponents had an average Elo-rating of 2802. With 8½ points out of 10 games he finished three points ahead of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Caruana started the tournament with seven wins in a row. Such winning streaks are now commonly known as ‘doing a Caruana’.

After his incredible performance in Saint Louis, most chess fans tipped Caruana as the next challenger of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. During an interview with Chess 24 (November 25, 2014), the World #2 did not seem to be afraid of such an encounter: ‘Overall, you can outplay him in many types of positions if you play strongly. Yes, it’s not easy, but it’s possible. I recently beat Carlsen first in an endgame, and then in a very complex unclear struggle. He’s still a man. The main thing is not to be too scared of him!’

Caruana enjoys playing different types of positions: ‘I can attack on a board full of pieces or manoeuvre in a roughly even position, and I’ve got nothing against the endgame’.

Would you like to ‘do a Caruana’ yourself? This training app gives you the opportunity to make the same winning moves as Caruana made in his games. One hundred training exercises are offered here, in positions which the Italian turned in his favour. The puzzles start at a moderate level and gradually get more difficult. How many good moves can you make in a row?