Fabiano Caruana threatening to overtake Magnus Carlsen as world No1

SOCAR Azerbaijan’s team of polyglot galácticos, financed by the state oil firm, duly regained the European Club Cup in Bilbao last weekend. The Baku squad fielded elite grandmasters from Bulgaria, China, England and the Netherlands, won all seven matches and en route gained revenge over Novy Bor, the Czechs who had upset the favourites in 2013.

The England No1, Michael Adams, was unbeaten with 3.5/5 on his SOCAR debut. The Cornishman, 42, worked hard as two of his games went to more than 120 moves, and was rewarded when his world ranking rose to No12, Adams’s best level since he was a world title finalist a decade ago.

But the real phenomenon in Bilbao was again Fabiano Caruana. Italy’s world No2 progresses from one tournament to another with hardly a break. He flew to Bilbao straight from his triumph at the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, totalled 5/6 and was hungry enough in the final round to take the world No7, Sergey Karjakin, to more than 100 moves.

At the end of July Caruana, aged 22, was a mammoth 80 rating points behind Magnus Carlsen as the world champion sat unchallenged on Olympus. Then Carlsen had an indifferent Olympiad and Caruana’s stunning 8.5/10 victory at St Louis, including a win against the Norwegian, reduced the ratings gap to 27 points. After Bilbao it is down to 19.

And that is not the end of it. For the next month Carlsen will be secluded with his coaches, preparing for his troubled world title rematch with India’s Vishy Anand which opens at the Winter Olympics village in Sochi on 7 November.

Caruana? He will be playing yet again, in two of the four tournaments which make up the Fide Grand Prix. He will be at Baku from 1-15 October, followed by Tashkent (20 October to 3 November). Both are very strong, with most of his rivals ranked in the world top 20.

This means that, if Caruana plays as well as he did in St Louis and Bilbao, he could capture Carlsen’s No1 ranking before the world champion pushes a pawn in Sochi. Carlsen once said that being No1 meant more to him that the world crown, so this would be a major psychological blow at a moment when he is struggling to regain his best form.

Caruana’s style is predominantly Capablancan, strategically lucid and free from serious errors. But he has a work ethic which the Cuban lacked, and wins games by deeply researched novelties. He can also change his style and start a chessboard brawl, as he did in his final round game at Bilbao when he needed a win with Black.

Caruana has dual nationality, American and Italian. As a child in New York he was taught by US coaches until he was 12 and decided he wanted to be a professional. His supportive parents moved to Europe where there were more tournaments, and he now lives in Switzerland and Spain.

Italy is not a strong chess nation. At Bilbao he was asked if he would consider returning to the US and replied “I can’t discuss if anything is going on. It’s private”. Such an equivocal answer suggests that the billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has transformed St Louis into a global chess centre, is trying to persuade Caruana to follow the 20-year-old Filipino world No15, Wesley So, who has switched to the US and studies at St Louis. With Caruana, So and the world No9, Hikaru Nakamura, the US would become a major contender for world and Olympiad team gold medals.

Robin Swinkels v Fabiano Caruana

1 d4 g6 2 e4 Bg7 3 Nc3 a6 4 f4 b5 5 Nf3 d6 6 Be3 Nd7 7 Bd3 c5 8 e5 b4 9 Ne4 Nh6 10 dxc5 dxe5 11 c6 Nb8 12 Nxe5 Qc7 13 Qf3 O-O 14 Bc4 Nxc6 15 Bd5 Nxe5 16 fxe5 Bg4 17 Qf2 Rad8 18 Bb3 Qxe5 19 Ng3 Bd7 20 Qf4 Qxf4 21 Bxf4 Bxb2 22 Rd1 Bc3+ 23 Bd2 Bc6 24 Bxc3 Rxd1+ 25 Kxd1 bxc3 26 Re1 Rd8+ 27 Kc1 Kf8 28 Re3 Bxg2 29 Rxc3 Nf5 30 Nxf5 gxf5 0-1

3377 1 Re7! Qxe7 2 Ba6! Kxa6 3 Qa8 mate.