Arianne Caoili - Biography

Dubbed the Anna Kournikova of the Chess world, Arianne Caoili at age 19 is the youngest competitor in the next series of Dancing with the Stars. Arianne recently made world headlines when British chess grandmaster Danny Gormally in a jealous moment at a nightclub, raised his fists against fellow competitor (world’s number three ranked chess player) Armenia’s Levon Aronian when he saw him dancing with Arianne during the recent World Chess Olympiad in Turin.

Arianne has already travelled the world since the age of two visiting and competing in Chess in over 30 different countries and has lived in several different countries including the Philippines, France and Germany.

Arianne started her professional career in Chess at the age of nine and has since competed in prestigious international tournaments all over the world representing the Philippines during her professional period and representing Australia since 2004. Also a professional chess teacher including private and school coaching since 2003, Arianne represented Australia at the Chess Olympics, playing board 2 and making history as the youngest player ever to play on the Australian Olympic team.

She is currently ranked number one in Women’s chess in Australia and in the Philippines. Arianne is fluent in Filipino, German and a student of Italian, Spanish and Russian and hopes to complete a double degree in Law and International Relations followed by a research degree in Middle Eastern Studies.

She now however looks forward to the next challenge in her life- stepping out onto the dance floor with partner Carmelo Pizzino.

“I love dancing as a hobby and I am really looking forward to learning and improving my dancing. I am so thrilled about being on the show and I know I will enjoy it so much and have loads of fun”, Arianne says.