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The first American since Bobby Fischer to play for the world title!

‘I started working with Fabiano when he was only five’, remembers legendary New York City chess trainer Bruce Pandolfini. ‘It was obvious that he had a rare intuition, was brave in attack and was one of the most talented players of his age that I had seen.’

Pandolfini had seen right. At 14 years, 11 months and 20 days, Fabiano Caruana became the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the United States and embarked on a glorious career.

Among his countless tournament victories Caruana’s legendary win in St Louis in 2014 stands out, making him the third-highest ranked chess player in history. In 2016 he became US Champion and led the golden US team at the Chess Olympiad. His victory at the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin earned Caruana the right to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a match for the highest title.

Alexander Kalinin chronicles the amazing story of the first American Challenger since Bobby Fischer and follows his development from a pure attacker to a universal, all-round star. This selection of Caruana’s best and most instructive games, arranged in thematic chapters, is a perfect guide for amateur chess players, as there is plenty to be learned about all the skills that really matter.

Grandmaster Alexander Kalinin is a distinguished chess trainer from Russia. He coached Daniel Naroditsky (USA) to win the World Youth Championship and is the author of the acclaimed Chess Training for Candidate Masters.

Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, award-winning author of Chess for Life
“It is extremely current, featuring a game from the Stavanger tournament in May 2018! The annotations are at a good level for the club player: not too many variations, some background on the openings used and a fair amount of explanation throughout the game. An interesting and well-written book.”

International Master John Donaldson
“The games are well-annotated offering variations where needed, but also plenty of explanatory prose. The latter makes this book accessible to a wide audience of players. The first half of the book proceeds in chronological fashion with not only games, but plenty of biographical material. The second half consists of chapters arranged around parts of the game where Caruana excels. Kalinin presents two smooth victories by Fabiano in [the Berlin Defence] (including a win over Carlsen) that illustrate his principled and crisp play quite nicely and suggest the World Championship match this fall should be something special. Photographs and indexes round out a first rate production.”

Grandmaster Simen Agdestein, former trainer of Magnus Carlsen
“I liked the book, as I like Caruana. But I hope Magnus will win!”

Elburg Chess Reviews
“A fascinating read.”

Carl Portman, author of Chess Behind Bars
“The book assert that it is the perfect guide for amateur chess players. I have heard this claim many times on book covers only to be disappointed when scrutinising it. Yet, in this case it really is true. Informative, well laid out, easy to read and just delightful. Read it before the World Champs start.”

Johan Hut, Noord-Holland Dagblad
“A wonderful book.”

CHESS Magazine(UK)
“Russian Grandmaster Kalinin has chronicled Fabiano Caruana’s career, while presenting a number of his best games. These are well-annotated and grouped by theme, with the emphasis on clear and instructive notes.”

Heinz Daubler, Oberpfalz Medien
“Right on time and should be present in every chess library.”