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Journalism of Courage
Faustino Oro, the 12-year-old Argentinian chess prodigy nicknamed the “Messi of Chess”, is now two steps away from smashing the record of the world’s youngest grandmaster, which is currently held by Indian-origin GM, Abhimanyu Mishra. Oro earned the first of the three norms that are required to become a grandmaster and crossed the 2500-rating threshold as well on the way to winning the Legends and Prodigies tournament in Madrid where he smashed world records for his age.
Oro now holds the record as the first under-12 in chess history to be rated 2500-plus. According to Chess.com, only Gukesh Dommaraju, who went on to become the youngest world champion in history, and GM Illya Nyzhnyk have ever scored a grandmaster norm at a younger age than Oro.
Oro, who will turn 12 on October 14, has five months to beat GM Abhimanyu Mishra’s record as the youngest grandmaster in chess history. He has a few tournaments to make this possible, including the FIDE World Cup in Goa, the European Club Cup in Greece, and a closed tournament in Argentina.
Writing in his chess column in the Guardian, Leonard Barden on chess, Leonard Barden noted: “Oro has a universal style. He can grind in marathon endings, crush opponents positionally, agree draws in under 10 moves, and score with imaginative attacks.”
Just earlier this year, Oro had faced five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in an exhibition match held in Tuscany, called the ‘Clash of Generations’. Anand had defeated the pre-teen IM 2-0.
Last year, Oro had gone viral for defeating world no 1 Magnus Carlsen in a Bullet Brawl game (games that are played with one minute on the clock for each player) on Chess.com. Oro was just 10 years old then. Carlsen resigned on the 48th move after blundering a piece.
