 "Argentinian chess prodigy Faustino Oro finds himself facing the prospect of becoming the youngest Grandmaster ever after securing his first GM norm at the age of 11. AFP")
Less than a month ago in Madrid, Argentinian chess prodigy Faustino Oro had ticked off the first of three norms required to become a Grandmaster at the Legends & Prodigies tournament, in addition to crossing the 2500-rating for the first time.
Oro, who turned 12 on Tuesday, has achieved remarkable things before even his teens, and his career, which is currently in its infancy, certainly has the potential to become a legendary one. If he can collect the next two norms in the next five months, he will end up breaking Indian-American chess prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra’s record for the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the sport.
Not obsessed with the idea of owning a world record
For a school-going kid to clinch a world record, in any sport for that matter, is something that a majority of children of his age, including Oro’s own classmates, can only dream of. However, the Argentine – aptly nicknamed the “Messi of Chess” – isn’t really obsessing over the milestone at the moment. Despite history being very much within his grasp.
“I prepare for tournaments. I’m trying to improve all the days a bit. And in the tournaments, I try to focus on the next game and try to win. I’m not really focused on the record of the youngest Grandmaster. I want to be a Grandmaster. But well, my goal is to be a world champion,” Oro, known popularly back home as ’el pibe de oro’ (the golden boy), told Firstpost in an exclusive interaction.
“I’m not too focused on the norm. Obviously, I am focusing on the norm, but in the tournament, I’m trying to focus on winning the next game, you know, if you win the next game, you get the norm. So I’m trying to, well, focus on the game and try to do my best,” he added, reflecting on the fact that he prefers to focus on the here and now rather than looking too far ahead.
For the International Master, who was introduced to the sport by his father at the age of six and trains six hours a day on average, the here and now is winning the inaugural Global Chess League Contenders 2025 Knockout Challengers Round in the Prodigy (U21) category.
Oro reflects on winning GCL Contenders
He will serve as one of three official ambassadors alongside GM Jose Martinez and WGM Mai Narva, who won the event in the Male and Female categories respectively, in Season 3 of the Global Chess League – a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE – that takes place in Mumbai in December.
The inaugural event was a two-month-long journey that witnessed the participation of more than 11,500 players competing across the three divisions. Oro defeated Indian IM Rosh Jain, a fellow prodigy, in the quarter-finals before triumphing over Grandmasters Denis Lazavik (Belarus) and Pranav Anand (India) in the semi-finals and the final, respectively.
“Yeah, well, the level of competition was really high. I played against Pranav Anand, Denis Lazavik and Rosh Jain, a prodigy from India. And yeah, well, the level was really high. And well, I learned a lot of things from my mistakes in the games. And yeah, I’m really happy to win that tournament,” Oro said, reflecting on his journey in the tournament.
Oro, or any of the other winners in the GCL Contenders event, will not be participating in the main event – which can be described as chess’ answer to the Indian Premier League (IPL) – that takes place from 13 to 24 December at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House.
He will, however, get a chance to rub shoulders with some of the best in the business, Indian legend Viswanathan Anand and reigning Classical world champion D Gukesh, as well as world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and other stars such as Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa, among others, as the official ambassador of the event.
But before he gets to receive tips from the legends and the young stars, Oro will find himself in action alongside several of them later this month. The Argentine, after all, is among the 206 players taking part in the FIDE World Cup that gets underway in Goa on 31 October and runs till 27 November.
While Oro isn’t part of the top-50 that has been allowed to skip the preliminary round, he will certainly back himself to go far in the tournament, possibly even find himself sitting opposite Gukesh or some of the other well-established names competing in the event.
Oro certainly is focusing on the upcoming task at hand, but also has one eye on observing how some of the best players in the world conduct business, the experience of which could prove invaluable for the road ahead.
“I’m trying to focus on my match. But obviously, I’m interested in how the best players compete in the tournament,” Oro continued during the interaction.
‘Indian chess is ridiculous’
The 12-year-old will be in India for the better part of the remaining months of 2025, mostly in the western and south-western part of the country. And by the time he’s done with the FIDE World Cup and GCL Season 3, he will certainly have a much better understanding of a nation that has transformed into a chess superpower in the last couple of years, and of its top talent.
But even before getting to know the likes of Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun better, Oro already has quite the impression of Indian chess – ridiculous. Not in a bad way, one might add.
“Indian chess is ridiculous. A lot of good players and young talents. They’re in the top, I believe. So it’s ridiculous. And yeah, it’s really, a really good place. A lot of Indian stars are rising at this time,” said Oro, who looks forward to visiting Chennai, the de facto capital of Indian chess, in addition to Mumbai and Goa in the coming months.
Also Read | Gukesh, Pragg pause their games to watch ‘Messi of chess’ Faustino Oro at Tata Steel Chess 2025
Like many chess players of his age or slightly older than him, Oro grew up idolising Norwegian chess superstar Magnus Carlsen, who has been the No 1 in the world since 2011, was a five-time world champion from 2013 to 2023 and holds the record for the highest peak rating in the history of the sport.
Oro, however, is also part of a select club of players who have also defeated the 34-year-old GM – widely considered as part of the greatest of all time alongside Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and a handful of others, if not better. Oro achieved the feat during Chess.com’s Bullet Brawl in May last year, when he was only 10 years old.
“Yeah, I was really happy because, well, that was the first game that we played and I won and I was streaming. So I started to do like this (starts waving arms in excitement),” Oro recalls his reaction after beating Carlsen.
“Yeah, he inspires me with his style. But yeah, I admire him because, well, he’s the best player in the world for me,” he added.
And while he harbours dreams of becoming a world champion and charting a path similar to that of his idol Carlsen in chess, Oro also secretly hopes to cross paths with Lionel Messi himself, the Argentine football legend widely considered one of the greatest to have ever played the game whom he derives his nickname.
“In the future, maybe,” Oro signed off.
A Bombay Bong with an identity crisis. Passionately follow cricket. Hardcore fan of Team India, the Proteas and junk food. Self-proclaimed shutterbug.