Very good sign when a player can actually win events, not just keep a high rating: Caruana

Very good sign when a player can actually win events, not just keep a high rating: Caruana Premium As the world’s third-best chess player at the moment — also the third-highest-rated player in history — Caruana has lofty standards. It’s perhaps why the 33-year-old says he isn’t happy with his 2025, despite winning big events. In this chat, he also speaks about the Global Chess League, the Candidates, India’s young prodigies and the origin of his fascination with tennis. Published - December 27, 2025 03:04 am IST - MUMBAI P. K. Ajith Kumar READ LATER SEE ALL Remove Plotting a takeover: Fabiano Caruana is eyeing another crack at the World Championship after having challenged Magnus Carlsen for the title in 2018. | Photo Credit: Getty Images Fabiano Caruana arrived in Mumbai just a few weeks after winning the United States Chess Championship. In a tournament that featured some of the world’s top players, such as Wesley So and Levon Aronian, he came a clear first. A couple of months before that, he had won the Grand Chess Tour. Still, the World No. 3 isn’t exactly pleased with his year. Caruana is also the third-highest-rated player in history, behind Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov. He had challenged Carlsen for the World title in 2018 but lost out in the tie-breaks. He is now eyeing another crack at the World Championship: he will be playing the Candidates in March-April in Cyprus. Before that gruelling event, where he has been a regular since 2016, he played in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League for the first time. And he led Alpine SG Pipers to the title at Mumbai’s iconic Royal Opera House, with a commanding win in the final over Triveni Continental Kings, the champion in both previous editions. Excerpts from an exclusive interview Caruana gave The Hindu on a cool December morning, by the poolside of Trident Hotel, just a stone’s throw away from the Arabian Sea: ALSO READ | After breaking even in season three, GCL set to expand, says chairperson Dubey Your thoughts on your maiden Global Chess League? It was nice. I wanted to play previous years, but there were always some scheduling issues. So I was excited when I got contacted for this year’s league. And actually, I didn’t really expect it, because I knew all the teams had their players, but one spot opened up for this team. We have two of the best players in the world [Anish Giri and R. Praggnanandhaa], along with many-time World champion for women [Hou Yifan] and one of the best junior players in the world [Leon Mendonca]. And Nino [Batsiashvili] is also a great player. I think the GCL is a very interesting tournament. It is nice to have so many strong players [14 of the world’s top 15] in one place. It took a while to get used to the time control [increment of two seconds after the 40th move]. How do you look back at your wins at...

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