 "Who is Faustino Oro - nicknamed the ‘Messi of Chess’")
There’s a new superstar in the making in the world of chess with young Faustino Oro making heads turn everywhere. The 10-year-old has been breaking one record after another in recent meetings, and is well on his way to becoming the youngest International Master of all time in the sport.
Oro had recently participated in the Continental Americas Championship 2024, which took place in Colombia’s Medellin between 24 May and 2 June, where he finished in the joint-second place with a score of 8.5 out of 11. He earned his second IM norm in the process, for which he needed to secure 6.5 out of 9.
Oro is currently racing against time to become the youngest IM in chess history, the record of which currently belongs to Abhimanyu Mishra. American Grandmaster Mishra had achieved the title at the age of 10 years, nine months and 20 days. Two years later, he would become the youngest GM ever at the age of 12 years, four months and 25 days.
On the occasion of the centennial celebrations of the Argentine National Olympic Committee, two chess players, 9-year-old prodigy FM Faustino Oro and 17-year-old World Girls U20 Champion WGM Candela Francisco, were awarded. Mario Moccia, the President of the Argentine Olympic… pic.twitter.com/WugwJ4NgPC
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 22, 2023
Oro will get the chance to break that record by achieving his final norm along with the requirement of a 2400 Elo rating at the Madrid Chess Festival that gets underway on Monday, 10 June and concludes on Saturday. But before the tournament gets underway, we take a look at Oro’s childhood and his journey into the sport.
Who is Faustino Oro?
The Argentinian chess prodigy from Buenos Aires, known popularly back home as ’el pibe de oro’ (the golden boy), began playing the sport at the age of seven during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and would become the highest-rated player under the age of 10 in the world within a year!
Faustino is the only child of professional accountants Romina and Alejandro, the latter responsible for teaching the basics of the sport, according to Chessbase. The love for chess also extended to his grandfather, a keen follower of the sport.
His chess journey would soon take off after he joined the Círculo Torre Blanca club, where he would come under the tutelage of experienced trainer and IM Jorge Rosito.
What truly put ‘Fausti’ on the global chess map, however, was him becoming the youngest player ever to achieve a 2200 and 2300 FIDE rating in March and June respectively last year.
The 10-year-old "Golden Boy" Faustino Oro beat Magnus Carlsen yesterday in a bullet game!
— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 25, 2024
Messi of chess 🏆🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/eVDGqGjxFl
And in March 2024, he would cement his status as the next big thing in chess by defeating world number one Magnus Carlsen at the ‘Bullet Brawl’ tournament on 23 March this year.
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