2007 In July, Caruana won the "First Saturday" GM tournament in
Budapest with seven points out of nine games. He obtained his final
GM norm and at age 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days, became the youngest grandmaster of both the United States and Italy, surpassing the US record set by
Hikaru Nakamura. Caruana played the strong
Vlissingen chess tournament in the Netherlands in August. His last round opponent was former
FIDE world champion
Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Caruana, playing black, drew the game in 82 moves, and won the tournament with a
performance of 2715. In November and December, Caruana participated in the
Italian Championship. In 2006, he was the co-champion of Italy by tying with
Michele Godena but losing the fifth
rapid play-off game. In 2007, he won with a score of +8 (9½/11) to become the youngest ever Italian champion.
2008 In January, Caruana had his first experience at
Corus C and throughout much of the tournament he was the clear leader. His last round opponent was
Parimarjan Negi, and Caruana needed ½ point to win the tournament. Caruana won the game in 61 moves and the tournament with a final score of +7 (10/13) and performance of 2696. April saw him playing in the Ruy Lopez Festival which included a seven-round closed tournament, and a two-day rapid open tournament. In the seven round closed tournament, Caruana had a disappointing result of −2 (2½/7) with performance of 2513. The two-day rapid open tournament that followed was won by Caruana with a score of +6 (7½/9) followed by
Michael Adams,
Julio Granda Zuniga, and Djurabek Khamrakulov all with a score of +5 (7/9). In June Caruana played first board for Italy at the Mitropa Cup, which is a four-board team competition amongst 10 "middle" European nations. He scored +6 (7½/9) winning the first board prize with performance of 2810. In August the NH Chess Tournament "Rising Stars vs. Experienced" was played with
Scheveningen format which is a double round team match of five "Rising Stars" against five "Experienced" players. Caruana played against
Evgeny Bareev,
Viktor Korchnoi,
Artur Jussupow,
Simen Agdestein, and
Ljubomir Ljubojević. He scored +3 (6½/10) with performance of 2706. In October and November: Caruana played at Eighth Cap d'Agde Rapid Chess Tournament, held in
Cap d'Agde, a knock-out closed rapid tournament organized into two round robin groups of eight players each, with the top four scorers of each group proceeding to the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and then the finals. The
time control was 25 minutes with a 10-second increment. In his group, Caruana placed first with a score of +4 (5½/7) winning against
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,
Xiangzhi Bu,
Alexandra Kosteniuk,
Marie Sebag, and drawing against
Vasyl Ivanchuk,
Ivan Cheparinov, and
Kateryna Lagno. Caruana's performance was 2866 and he had qualified to enter the quarter-finals. His quarter-final match, which was against
Anatoly Karpov, was closely fought. Karpov won the first game, and Caruana won the second. Then tie-break games with time control of 15 minutes were played. The first four games were all drawn. The fifth game Karpov won, and Caruana was knocked out. In November Caruana played at
38th Olympiad, his first Olympiad. On the first board for Italy he played against
Levon Aronian in the first round,
Viktor Korchnoi in the fourth round, Michael Adams in the fifth round,
Emanuel Berg in the seventh round, and
Peter Leko in the eighth round. He lost to Aronian and Leko, and won against Adams, Korchnoi, and Berg. His final score was 7½/11 with performance of 2696. When winter rolled around in November and December, Caruana successfully defended his title winning the Italian Championship for the second consecutive year with a score of +5 (8/11).
2009 In February, Caruana—having won
Corus C 2008—received and accepted invitation to
Corus B 2009 which was of category 16 with average Elo of 2641. Throughout the tournament his standings ranged from first to third place. Going into the last round he was tied for second and his opponent was
Nigel Short who was in clear first. The game lasted 67 moves. Caruana won the game and the tournament with a score of +4 (8½/13) and performance of 2751. Caruana is the first player ever to win both Corus C and Corus B in consecutive years placing clear first in both. In April he played in the Russian Team Championship at
Sochi with the "Club 64" of Moscow, scoring 5 points out of 6; his team placed second after
Tomsk. In May he played with the Italian team in the "Mitropa Cup" at
Rogaska Slatina in Slovenia, scoring 6 points out of 8 and winning the individual gold medal on first board. By November Caruana was entered in and played in the
Chess World Cup 2009 at
Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia. In the first two rounds he beat the Cuban grandmasters
Lázaro Bruzón and
Leinier Domínguez (Elo 2719), in the third the Russian
Evgeny Alekseev (Elo 2715); in round four he lost, only in the rapid games, to
Vugar Gashimov (Elo 2759 and 7th in the world). This performance allowed him to reach 2675 Elo points.
2010 In July, Caruana won the Young Grandmaster Section of Biel 2010 after a playoff with the others two leaders
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and
Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn. In December he won the Italian Championship for the third time with a score of 9 points out of 11 games. In the period from December 2010–January 2011 Caruana played in the 53rd
Reggio Emilia Tournament. He placed 6th out of 10 and tied 7 out of his 9 games (only winning, again, against Nigel Short).
2011 In January, at the
Gibraltar Masters, he finished on place 5 behind Ivanchuk, Short,
Külaots and
Roiz. In July, he won with 7 points out of 10 at the AAI tournament in
New Delhi (category 17). In December he won the Italian National Championship for the fourth time with a score of 10 points out of 11 games. He had previously won the 2007 and 2008 national championships, and did not play the 2009 national championship due to a calendar conflict with the FIDE World Cup.
2012 In January, at the
74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament A in Wijk aan Zee (previously known as
Corus Chess), he finished on place second together with
Magnus Carlsen and
Teimour Radjabov, behind the winner Levon Aronian. In March at the 27th
Reykjavik Open in
Reykjavík, Iceland, he finished first with 7½/9. In May he won the 20th
Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, an eight-player round-robin tournament, in
Malmö, Sweden, with 5½/7, half point ahead of
Peter Leko. June saw him at the 7th
Tal Memorial where he finished second with a score of 5½/9 after tiebreak with
Teimour Radjabov behind Magnus Carlsen. By July, at the 40th
Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, he was victorious once again with a score of 6/9 after tiebreak with
Sergey Karjakin. In the fall, in the period from September–October, he played in the
Grand Slam Chess Final in
São Paulo and
Bilbao, Caruana won 4 games, drew 5 and lost 1, tying for 1st with Magnus Carlsen, but eventually losing both blitz tiebreak games and thus ending 2nd. In November at the 6th
Kings Tournament, organized in
Bucharest by the Romanian capital chess club, Caruana tied all the games to get third in a shortlist, yet strong tournament (average Elo 2747) behind Vasyl Ivanchuk, winner, and
Veselin Topalov, runner-up.
2013 In February–March, Caruana won with four points out of six games the
Zurich Chess Challenge. In April at the third stage of the
FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012–2013 held in
Zug, Switzerland, with six points out of 11 games, Caruana shared third place with
Ruslan Ponomariov, behind the winner, Veselin Topalov, and the runner-up, Hikaru Nakamura. In May–June at the fourth stage of the "FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012–2013" held in
Thessaloniki, Greece, Caruana shared second place with
Gata Kamsky, behind the winner,
Leinier Domínguez Pérez. In June at the eighth edition of the
Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, held in Moscow, Caruana, with five points out of nine games, finished third after tiebreak with
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and
Dmitry Andreikin, behind the winner,
Boris Gelfand, and the runner-up, Magnus Carlsen. In September–October he shared first place with Boris Gelfand with 5 points out 9 games at the sixth leg of the FIDE Grand Prix, held in Paris. In the final game against
Dominguez Perez, Caruana had to win with the black pieces to hope to win the tournament solo and qualify for the Candidate's Tournament, but he repeated moves early in the opening finishing with a fast draw. In October he won the seventh edition of the Kings Tournament in Bucharest,
Romania, with five points out of eight games.
2014 In January, at the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, Caruana finished fourth with 6 points out 11 games. In the end of January into early February, at the Zurich Chess Challenge in
Zürich, Switzerland, Caruana won the rapid section with four points out of five games and shared second place with Levon Aronian in combined final results (classical and rapid time controls), behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In April at
Shamkir Chess 2014, a six-player double round-robin tournament held in
Shamkir,
Azerbaijan, in memory of
Vugar Gashimov, Caruana finished second with 5½ points out of 10 games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In June at
Norway Chess 2014, a ten-player tournament, Caruana finished fourth with 4½ points out of 9 games. In June at the FIDE World Rapid Championship held in
Dubai, Caruana finished second with 10½ points out of 15 games, after tiebreaks with
Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and
Alexander Morozevich, half point behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. With this result Caruana in July topped the FIDE rapid ranking with 2858 points. In FIDE World Blitz Championship, also held in Dubai, Caruana finished in the middle of the group, confirming some difficulties with short time control. In July, Caruana won with 5½ points out of 7 games the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, breaking for the first time the 2800 Elo points bar. By August Caruana was playing on the first board for Italy at the
41st Chess Olympiad in
Tromsø, Norway, finishing with 6½ points out of 9 games. In the period from August–September, Caruana won with 8½ points out of 10 games the
Sinquefield Cup in
Saint Louis, Missouri, one of the strongest tournaments ever held, featuring six of the world's top ten players, including the world champion
Magnus Carlsen. With seven consecutive wins from the start, 3 draws and 0 losses, Caruana ultimately achieved a performance rating of 3098, the best tournament result in history at that time, beating out Magnus Carlsen in the
2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament and
Anatoly Karpov in the
1994 Linares chess tournament. In October he won along with Boris Gelfand the
Baku stage of the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, a 12-player round-robin, with 6½ points out of 11 games. The loss at round 7 against Dmitry Andreikin ended a streak of 22 points out of 27 games and no losses started in August. In the period of late October through early November, Caruana shared fourth place with six points out of 11 games at the
Tashkent leg of the FIDE Grand Prix. December saw him at the
6th London Chess Classic, a six-player round-robin; he shared last place with four draws and one loss in five games.
2015 In January, Caruana played in the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament, a 14-player round-robin, where he finished seventh, with seven points out 13 games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In February he was at the
2015 Grenke Chess Classic in
Baden-Baden, an eight-player round-robin. He shared third and fourth positions, with four points out seven games, behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In February at
2015 Zurich Chess Challenge, a 6 players tournament, Caruana shared second place in Blitz Section with 3½ points out 5 games, shared the last place with 2 points out of 5 games in Classical Section, finished last with 1½ points out 5 games in Rapid Section and finished fifth in Combined Final Results (Classical & Rapid TC) behind the winner Hikaru Nakamura. In April at the
Shamkir Chess 2015, a 10 players tournament, Caruana finished fourth with five points out of nine games behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. In May, Caruana won along with Hikaru Nakamura and
Dmitry Jakovenko the
FIDE Grand Prix Khanty-Mansiysk 2015, a 12-player round-robin, with 6½ points out of 11 games. With this result Caruana won the
FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 and qualified for the
2016 Candidates Tournament. In June he played in the
Norway Chess 2015, a 10-player tournament, where he finished fifth with 4 points out of 9 games behind the winner Veselin Topalov. In June–July: Caruana won the
Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, an eight-player single-round robin tournament, with 5½ points out of 7 possible points, ending the tournament with a 5-game win-streak. In August–September he finished 8th at the
2015 Sinquefield Cup with 3½ out of nine possible points. In September, at the
Chess World Cup 2015, a 128-player
single-elimination tournament, Caruana was eliminated in the fourth round by
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In December, Caruana competed in the final leg of the
Grand Chess Tour, the
London Chess Classic. He achieved the arguably boring result of nine draws out of nine games (+0-0=9).
2016 . In January, at the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Caruana shared second (along with
Ding Liren) with a score of 8 points out of 13 (+5-2=6), defeating
Michael Adams,
Wei Yi,
Loek Van Wely,
Pavel Eljanov, and
Ding Liren, and losing to
David Navara and
Evgeny Tomashevsky. Had he defeated Tomashevsky, he would have at least tied for 1st place with
Magnus Carlsen. Through this tournament, he gained 7 rating points and moved to #3 in the world. By March, as part of the qualification cycle for the
World Chess Championship 2016, Caruana participated in the
Candidates Tournament 2016, held in Moscow, Russia, from March 10–30 in the
Central Telegraph (Центральный телеграф) Building. The lineup of the tournament included
Viswanathan Anand,
Hikaru Nakamura,
Sergey Karjakin,
Peter Svidler,
Veselin Topalov,
Anish Giri, and
Levon Aronian. In the final round Caruana had Black against
Sergey Karjakin in a winner-takes-all game. A complex position developed in which he made a mistake and was eventually defeated, making Karjakin the official challenger. Caruana eventually finished with a +1 score. On April 25, Caruana became US Chess Champion for the first time, after defeating IM Akshat Chandra in the last round of the US Chess Championship. He finished the tournament with 8.5 points out of 11 games, and went undefeated. The field consisted of world top ten players Hikaru Nakamura and
Wesley So; top 100 players Ray Robson,
Sam Shankland, Gata Kamsky, and
Alexander Onischuk; GMs
Alexander Shabalov, Varuzhan Akobian,
Jeffery Xiong and
Aleksandr Lenderman; and IM
Akshat Chandra. In September, he played first board of the US Team at the
42nd Chess Olympiad. The US team won the gold medal, while Caruana won the bronze medal for first board.
2017 Caruana began the year rated 2827, ranked No. 2 in the world. However, his rating would slip in the coming months. He played the
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in March and finished with a score of 7/10, suffering one loss to
Nigel Short in Round 6. At the
US Championships, Caruana finished T-3rd with 6/11. He lost two games during the tournament and needed to win his last two games just to finish with a positive score, which he did. At the conclusion, his ranking dropped to No. 4. He finished T-2nd at the
Grenke Chess Classic, but was 1½ points behind the winner
Levon Aronian. Caruana next played in the
Norway Chess event, where he finished in the middle of the standings with 4½/9. His lone win came against
Hikaru Nakamura and his lone loss came against
Vishwanathan Anand. Caruana continued to struggle through the middle of the year. He finished the
Sinquefield Cup in July towards the bottom of the standings with a score of 4/9 (+1-2=6). His last round loss to
Peter Svidler knocked his August rating below 2800 for the first time since April 2016. At the
World Cup, Caruana made it to the third round.
Evgeniy Najer eliminated him in the rapid tiebreak rounds by winning with the black pieces. The World Cup tightened the race between Caruana, Wesley So, and
Vladimir Kramnik for the two ratings qualification spots to the
2018 Candidates Tournament to within a few points. However, Kramnik's loss in a classical game against
Ivanchuk during the tournament left him in a distant third with only two months remaining. The World Cup set the stage for the next major tournament, the Isle of Man Open, which both Caruana and Kramnik were playing. The first round pairings were decided by the players drawing names out of a raffle tumbler. Kramnik, choosing second because he was the 2nd-highest rated player at the event, chose Caruana as his first round opponent. With the white pieces, Caruana defeated Kramnik to put himself and So in a good position to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Kramnik's surprise loss to
James Tarjan, who quit chess for a few decades to become a librarian, further helped solidify Caruana and So as the ratings qualifiers. Furthermore, Kramnik ended up receiving a wild card into the Candidates event, officially clinching the qualifications for Caruana and So. In December 2017 with the Candidates qualification already decided, Caruana rebounded and won his only tournament of the year at the
London Chess Classic in tiebreaks. He won three games and drew the remaining six (+3-0=6).
Ian Nepomniachtchi had the sole lead entering the final round after winning three consecutive games in rounds six through eight. However, Caruana was able to come from behind by defeating
Michael Adams in his last game. After drawing the rapid tiebreaks, Caruana won one of the two blitz games to clinch the tournament.
2018 at the
Candidates Tournament |alt= In January, Caruana finished 11th with a score of 5/13 at the
Tata Steel Masters. In March, he won the
Candidates Tournament 2018 with a score of 9/14, thus winning the right to challenge
Magnus Carlsen in the
World Chess Championship 2018 in London in November 2018. From 31 March to 9 April, Caruana competed in the
5th Grenke Chess Classic. He won the event with a score of 6½/9 (+4–0=5), a point ahead of runner-up Carlsen. With this result he moved to No. 2 in the live world rankings. From 17 to 30 April, he competed in 2018 U.S. Chess Championship, placing second with 8/11 (+6–1=4), half a point behind champion
Sam Shankland. In June, he won the
6th edition of Norway Chess, finishing clear first with a score of 5/8 (+3–1=4), despite having lost to Carlsen in the first round. In August, he jointly won the
6th Sinquefield Cup with Carlsen and Aronian. He also defeated So in a playoff for a place at the
London Chess Classic being held in December. Caruana faced Carlsen in the
World Chess Championship 2018 from November 9 to 28. All 12 classical time control games were drawn. Carlsen then won the rapid tiebreak games 3–0. During game four of the 2018 World Chess Championships, a video containing Caruana's preparation files was released onto the
Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel. In an interview much later, Caruana admitted that he had been only made aware of this, by his
second Cristian Chirilă, before the Round 4 press conference.
2019 From May to November, Caruana competed in the
Grand Chess Tour as one of 12 regular participants. He finished in joint-10th place after the first 7 events, thus failing to qualify for the finals at the
London Chess Classic.
2020 In January, he won the Category 20
Tata Steel Masters with a round to spare, scoring 10/13 (+7–0=6), two points ahead of second-placed Magnus Carlsen. As a result, he reached a rating of 2842 on the February FIDE rating list, his highest since October 2014. As the runner-up of the 2018 World Championship, Caruana automatically qualified for the
2020 Candidates Tournament, which began 17 March 2020. The tournament was suspended halfway through due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of the postponement, Caruana was tied for third place out of eight players with a score of 3.5 out of 7. The Candidates resumed on April 19, 2021, and ended on April 28, 2021. Caruana ended with 7½/14 points (3 wins, 9 draws, and 2 losses). Caruana tied for third place but due to tie-breaks placed fourth out of eight.
2021 Caruana played in the continuation of
Candidates Tournament 2020–2021 from April 19 to April 28 and finished in fourth place on tiebreaks with a score of 7.5/10 (+3-2=9) His win against
MVL in round 8 was considered an impressive show of preparation and play, where he sacrificed 3 pawns and a piece (a novelty) in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the
Najdorf Sicilian. Following the Candidates, from July 12 to July 20, Caruana played in the
Chess World Cup, but was eliminated in the third round by
Rinat Jumabayev. From August 9 to August 16, Caruana played in the 2021 St Louis Rapid and Blitz taking second behind
Hikaru Nakamura. Following that, from August 16 to August 28, he played in the
Sinquefield Cup tying for second behind winner
MVL with 5.5/9 points (+3-1=5) and a
tournament performance rating of 2824, which earned him $45,000 and 8.3 GCT points. In the
Grand Chess Tour, he placed fourth overall behind
MVL,
Wesley So and
Mamedyarov. From October 5 to October 19, Caruana then participated in the 2021
US Chess Championship held at the
Saint Louis Chess Club in
Missouri, where he scored 2nd place with a score of 6.5/11 after losing to GM
Wesley So in the rapid tiebreaks. In November, Caruana was runner-up in the
FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 with a score of 7.5/11 (+4-0=7) and a
tournament performance rating of 2807, behind
Alireza Firouzja, which qualified him for the
Candidates Tournament 2022. Between December 18 and December 23, Caruana also participated in the
2021 Vugar Gashimov Memorial, where he edged out
Richard Rapport in an armaggedon playoff to win first place. Three days later, from December 26 to December 28, 2021, Caruana participated in the
2021 FIDE World Rapid Championship, where he ended up as one of the joint leaders with 9.5/13 points, but ultimately finished 4th place as he could not advance to the playoffs due to controversial tiebreak rules. Subsequently, on the 28th and 29th, he played the
FIDE World Blitz Championship, ranking 39th. In 2021, Caruana split with his long time coach/second,
Rustam Kasimdzhanov, with Kasimdzhanov citing that the
pandemic affected their relationship and opportunities to work together. Apart from the events he played, Caruana also participated in the coverage of the
World Chess Championship 2021 in November and December 2021, along with
Daniel Rensch and
Robert Hess, for
Chess.com.
2022 From the 14th to the 30th of January, Caruana participated in the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament, placing 8th with a score of 6.5/14. From February 12 to August 21, Caruana competed in the
Chess.com RCC and placed 3rd with 64 points, behind runner-up
Dmitry Andreikin (73 points) and tournament winner
Hikaru Nakamura (102 points). In April 2022, he won the inaugural
American Cup, a double-elimination tournament in Missouri, ahead of
Levon Aronian,
Wesley So, and
Lenier Dominguez. From June 16 to July 5, Caruana participated in the
Candidates Tournament held in Madrid, having qualified to play by being the runner-up in the
Grand Swiss in 2021 behind
Alireza Firouzja. Caruana finished 5th with a score of 6.5/14 (+3-4=7) despite being 2nd behind tournament leader
Ian Nepomniachtchi after the end of the first half of the tournament. From July 28 to August 9, Caruana played board 1 for the US at the
44th Chess Olympiad in
Chennai where his team finished 5th despite being seeded 1st. He finished the event with a score of 5/10 (+3-3=4) and a tournament performance rating of 2645. From August 26 to August 30, Caruana participated in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament, as part of the
Grand Chess Tour and finished in third place, after
Alireza Firouzja and
Hikaru Nakamura. The next month, Caruana participated in the
Sinquefield Cup, finishing tied 3rd alongside compatriot
Wesley So with 4.5/8 points and behind runner-up
Ian Nepomniachtchi and winner
Alireza Firouzja. His two consecutive third-place finishes earned him enough points to finish in fourth place in the
Grand Chess Tour – just 1 point short of 3rd place. Caruana followed this up with a victory in the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX, a rapid
chess 960 tournament held in
Saint Louis, after defeating
Alireza Firouzja in the playoffs for the title. His first-place finish earned him $31,250. From October 5 to October 19, Caruana participated in the 2022 US Chess Championship, winning ahead of
Wesley So,
Levon Aronian, and
Lenier Dominguez, among others. Caruana finished third in
World Rapid Chess Championship 2022 by defeating
Vladislav Artemiev,
Vladimir Fedoseev and drawing against
Magnus Carlsen, he finished with score of (9.5/13).
2023 |alt= From May 6 to May 15, Caruana participated in the
Superbet Chess Classic held in Bucharest. He would win games against
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and
Ian Nepomniachtchi and would go undefeated allowing him to claim 1st place with a score of 5.5/9. In the
Chess World Cup 2023, Caruana defeated
reigning champion Jan-Krzysztof Duda, among others, to reach the semifinals. This result has earned him qualification to the
Candidates Tournament 2024. In the 2023
US Chess Championship, Caruana clinched victory with a round to spare to defend his title as US champion. He would earn wins against
Hans Niemann and
Abhimanyu Mishra, among others, en route to his victory. From November 14 to November 18, Caruana competed in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. He would edge out second-place finisher
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by half a point to win the event. Caruana earned 13
Grand Chess Tour 2023 points and $40,000 from his victory. Caruana won the 2023
Sinquefield Cup, scoring 5.5 points out of 8. He scored wins against
Alireza Firouzja,
Wesley So, and
Richárd Rapport en route to his victory, where he earned $100,000 and 13 Grand Chess tour points. Caruana won the 2023
Grand Chess Tour with a score of 46 points of a possible 52, which is the highest point total in the Tour's history since switching to a 4-tournament event. Caruana scored 1st place in the Superbet Chess Romania, 4th in the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, 1st in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, and 1st in the Sinquefield Cup. Caruana earned $175,000 for his victory in the Grand Chess Tour.
2024 Caruana successfully defended his title at the 2024 Superbet Chess Classic held in Bucharest, Romania. Victories over
Alireza Firouzja and
Bogdan-Daniel Deac in early rounds had Caruana poised to win the event, until
Anish Giri defeated him in the final round. In rapid tie-breaks, Caruana scored 3/3 against Alireza,
R Praggnanandhaa, and
Gukesh D to ultimately win the tournament. Caruana claims 9.25
Grand Chess Tour points and $68,750 for his first-place finish. Just a few days later Caruana won the 2024 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, Croatia with five rounds to spare. Caruana went undefeated in the rapid portion, with a score of 15/18. With this tournament victory, Caruana claims 13
Grand Chess Tour points, which moves him into 1st place in the tour standings. He also earned $40,000 in prize money. Caruana placed second at the 2024
Sinquefield Cup - the final
Grand Chess Tour event of the year. Following a first-round defeat to eventual champion
Alireza Firouzja, Caruana went on to defeat
Nodirbek Abdusattorov,
Ian Nepomniachtchi, and
Anish Giri. With 36.75 Grand Chess Tour points, Caruana placed second in the tour standings, again falling short of Firouzja. Caruana earns $234,250 and automatic qualification to the 2025 Tour from his second-place finish. Caruana won the 2024
US Chess Championship, giving him his 3rd consecutive US champion title, and 4th title overall (2016, 2022, 2023, 2024). Caruana finished with a score of 7/10, securing victories over
Ray Robson,
Grigoriy Oparin,
Abhimanyu Mishra, and
Sam Shankland. Although Caruana also defeated
Christopher Yoo, Yoo was subsequently disqualified from the tournament and banned from the
Saint Louis Chess Club for striking a staff member in frustration after losing to Caruana. Caruana's victory, and all other of Yoo's matches, were annulled as a result of the disqualification. With
Carissa Yip winning the 2024
U.S. Women's Chess Championship, both open and women's champion defended their 2023 title. Caruana also won the 2024
U.S. Masters Chess Championship with a 8/9 score, and a $7500 prize. The first place finish granted Caruana 17.11 points for the
2024 FIDE Circuit. Just days later, Caruana shared first place in the
St. Louis Masters. Caruana earned 16.39 circuit points from the event, which brought him to first place in the circuit. He would keep this lead for the rest of the year and qualify for the
2026 Candidates Tournament.
2025 Caruana finished 8th with 6 points in the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament. On February 13, 2025, he signed with the
esports organization
Team Liquid, opening their chess division. Caruana represented the organization during the Champions Chess Tour 2025 and qualified for the 2025 Esports World Cup. In March 2025, Caruana won the Champions Showdown: The Kings in St. Louis. In June 2025, Caruana finished second in the
Norway Chess 2025. Caruana claimed his
second Grand Chess Tour title of his career after defeating
Levon Aronian and
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the semi-finals and finals, respectively. Despite losing the first match of the rapid portion to MVL, Caruana was powered to the title by scoring 3.5/4 during the blitz. Caruana earned $150,000 and automatic qualification to the 2026 GCT circuit from his victory. Caruana claimed his
5th US championship in October 2025, and 4th consecutive title, which ties
Bobby Fischer for the most consecutive US championships in history. Caruana scored 8/11 to win the event, narrowly edging out 2nd-place-finisher
Wesley So who scored 7.5/11.
2026 In February 2026, Caruana finished runner-up to Magnus Carlsen in the
FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026. In March-April 2026, Caruana participated in the
Candidates Tournament, finishing 3rd with a score of 7.5/14 (+4−3=7). == Playing style ==