Fabiano Caruana was born in 1992 in Miami, the son of an Italian mother and an Italian–American father. He moved to Brooklyn, to the neighborhood where Bobby Fischer grew up. There at Congregation Beth Elohim School, Caruana learned the game of chess. At the age of 14, he became the youngest American and Italian grandmaster ever. He had grown up in America but at the age of 12 he moved to Europe. He made the change because the distances to travel to major tournaments were easier to manage and it was easier for him to study with European grandmasters.

In short, though chess is popular throughout the world, Europe is the center of championship chess. FIDE, the world chess organization is managed from Kalmykia in Russia. It establishes the rules of play and ratings of qualifying players. But there is another organization of strength in Europe that has remarkable influence on world chess. It is the European Chess Union, a federation of over 50 European countries, with a home base in Belgrade. Though not receiving nearly as much publicity as FIDE, the ECU tournaments are major events and well financed. They include European championships for individuals, clubs, seniors, women, youth, rapid, and blitz.