Park Slope Chess Player Makes History In World Championship

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN -- Park Slope's own Fabiano Caruana may have been edged out of becoming the World Chess Champion this week, but the 26-year-old still made history just by playing the game. Caruana, who learned chess at a local synagogue, was the first American to compete for the title since 1972, according to the New York Times.

He was narrowly beat out of the title Wednesday, though, by Norway's Magnus Carlsen, who has held the title since 2013. The two squared off for three weeks of gameplay that included 12 straight draws and a day of tiebreakers.

Caruana was born in Miami but moved to Park Slope when he was four, according to chess news site ChessBase. He learned chess in an after-school program at Congregation Beth Elohim, where his parents enrolled him when he was five.

His first tournament was at the Susan Polar Chess Center in Queens.

Caruana left Park Slope when he was 12 to move to Europe with his family and would become a grandmaster three years later at 15 years old. He competed internationally for Italy from 2005 until 2015, when he switched to America and moved to St. Louis, a chess hub in the country.

Photo by Nicky J Sims/Stringer from Getty Images