Fabiano Caruana, the world’s third-ranked chess player and a top contender for the upcoming Candidates Tournament, has faced significant setbacks in his preparation, suffering two key losses in a warm-up event As the 5-2 favourite to win the qualifier, Caruana’s form is under intense scrutiny ahead of the competition, which determines the next challenger for the World Chess Championship and is scheduled for Pegeia, Cyprus, from March 29 to April 16
Caruana, the reigning US champion, participated in two tournaments in his hometown of St. Louis ahead of the main event After a strong, unbeaten second-place finish in the Saint Louis Masters, his performance in the American Cup did not go as planned In the double-elimination knockout format, he was defeated by both Wesley So and Levon Aronian
Both losses followed a troubling pattern for the American grandmaster. In each match, Caruana won the first classical game with the White pieces, only to lose the second game with Black before being eliminated in the speed tie-break Analysis of the matches suggests these defeats exposed a potential vulnerability, as Caruana was consistently outplayed in complex middlegames and endgames after the queens had been traded off the board This is a specific weakness that his opponents at the Candidates Tournament are expected to target as they compete for the right to play for the world title
ISN MEDIA