This Kid From Brooklyn Could Return America to Chess Dominance for the First Time Since Bobby Fischer

Fabiano Caruana did not start playing chess in Brooklyn, New York when he was five years old because his mom thought he'd be a future grandmaster, or that he'd one day play for the World Chess Championship, just like fellow Brooklynite Bobby Fischer did back in the early 1970s. No, Caruana's mom thought chess would calm him down and keep him focused in school.

"I was having trouble with concentration," Caruana, 26, tells TIME, "and the idea was that maybe chess would help with that.