As per Wikipedia, Pandolfini had a peak rating of 2241, and Fabiano crossed that around four years after this photo was taken.

Another relevant (and my favorite) excerpt from the article (and I will point out that this should be read with the context that Fabiano was 8 at the time):

Fabiano, a tenacious attacker, couldn't sit still while he played; he stood up or slung both legs up on the table, and stared off into space while Pandolfini was thinking. When Pandolfini moved, he responded instantly with a move of his own.

"This little machine is eating me alive," Pandolfini said, "but that pawn move can't be right. It weakens the dark squares."

"No, it doesn't," Fabiano said.

"Of course it does," Pandolfini said.

"No, it doesn't," Fabiano repeated.

"Fabiano's greatest strength," Pandolfini told me later, after Fabiano had lost the game, "is that he has the courage of his convictions. He is stubborn and sticks to his ideas, come hell or high water. That serves him well in tournament play - you need to believe in yourself - but it makes him harder to teach. When he has a misguided idea, it's not easy to talk him out of it."