In September 2023, aged just nine, national chess prodigy Faustino Oro achieved an incredible feat: he was awarded his first International Master (IM) title norm after a brilliant performance at a tournament in Comodoro Rivadavia. The talented Argentine youngster, who was quickly nicknamed the “Mess of chess” after the national team’s star footballer, finished as runner-up in the tournament, yet he remained undefeated in a competition stacked with players of international renown.
In the months since, Oro has continued to come on leaps and bounds. Last week the 10-year-old faced his favourite player, world number one Magnus Carlsen in a quickfire match at the Bullet Brawl 2024 – and he ended up defeating the Norwegian.
Child prodigy
Faustino, who was born on October 14, 2013, began playing less than four years ago. Within months, he was taking his first lesson with international master Jorge Rosito.
The coach of “the child prodigy” talked to Perfil in an exclusive interview and discussed the surprising evolution of his disciple, who has one more step to surpass (Grandmaster) if he is to reach the game’s highest level.
“Fausti started moving pieces in May 2020, in the middle of the [Covid-19] pandemic, by watching YouTube tutorials. His dad showed him a small board, and then with the videos, Faustino started becoming enthusiastic about chess,” recalled Rosito. “Faustino’s father contacted me and on September 4, 2020 I gave him his first lesson. He was only six years old.”
As for the virtues of the little titan, Oro’s coach underlined his capacity for calculation: “His most outstanding virtue is calculation. Faustino has a mental skill that is hard to explain in a child his age. He’s also very good at the strategic part, which is striking because boys his age usually stand out more in the tactical area”
Rosito also highlighted the player’s psychological strength. “He’s a fighter: he always plays to win. That’s quite outstanding because there are a lot of people who are very studious, talented, but when it comes to playing there can be a bit of fear and respect towards the rival.”
He continued: “I remember Fausti was six years old and was playing against international masters: he didn’t even have an international ranking and he played to win. He has had that winning mentality since birth.”
Highlighting Faustino’s performance in the Comodoro Rivadavia tournament, Rosito – himself an international master – stressed that his young star was in competition with two grandmasters: seven times Argentine champion Diego Flores and Neuris Delgado Ramírez.
Oro’s striking improvement can be seen in the “dizzying and unusual” climb of his ‘Elo’ score, referring to a point system used all over the world to calculate the skill of players.
The young nine-year-old is already rubbing shoulders with chess stars. A graphic that circulated online via social networks comparing Oro’s age and ‘Elo’ score with the values of five world elite players – the aforementioned Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Gukesh Dommaraju and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa - shows that none of these global stars had as high a ranking (above the 2,300 range) when they were Faustino’s age.
Interpreting this revealing graphic, Rosito explained that when Carlsen was Faustino’s age “he did not have 2,100 points [and] Carlsen is possibly the best player in history.”
“At this very moment, Faustino has 2,325 points, without adding those he won at the Comodoro Rivadavia tournament,” argued the coach.
The young star is already catching the attention of chess colleagues and influencers. So much so, that world number three Hikaru Nakamura recently played a match against Faustino and took it upon himself to assess on his YouTube channel (GMHikaru) whether the young nine-year-old has the potential to become world champion over the next few years. “Faustino will definitely be a Grandmaster,” said Nakamura, after concluding blitz games against the Argentine.
Causing a commotion
Last September, Rosito confirmed that Carlsen, the Norwegian who has dominated the global chess scene since 2013, is Faustino’s favourite player. In 2023 he gave up his chance to defend his world title, but he remains number one of the global rankings. Still the master of the board, the grandmaster has a ‘Elo’ score of 2,839 points.
Last week, however, Faustino caused a commotion by defeating his idol in a quickfire game at the Bullet Brawl 2024. The event, an annual tournament which gathers chess masters from all over the world, saw Oro playing with determination and guile. Despite the briefness and speed of the game, Oro managed to capitalise on mistakes to ensure a historic victory in 48 moves.
Although Fastino did not come in first in the tournament, his performance did not go unnoticed. The youngster finished 21st out of 156 players, with a total 108 points – an incredible achievement for one so young.
The 10-year-old also caught the eye of the chess world last year, when at the World Rapid Chess Championship 2023, Oro impressed by winning three games, including one against a great master, and drawing in two, showing his skill against far more experienced opponents.
Indeed, the “little Messi,” as some local media have dubbed him, has a habit of breaking record after records on the boards: he was world number one in the under-eight category, and in April last year, he became the youngest International Chess Federation (FIDE) master in history. He is currently the best-ranked global under-10 and under-11 player with an ‘Elo’ score of 2,325, which places him way ahead of his most immediate competitors.
His breakthrough, said Rosito, was in September 2021, when he debuted at a tournament in Mar del Plata, won enough points to top the under-8s ranking and began making headlines.
“His evolution has been consistent, because he was the best in the under-8, under-9, under-10, and today, at nine years old, he’s the under-11 number one. It’s crazy,” said the coach.
“The impressive thing about Fausti is that he has an ‘Elo’ score which, at his age, has never been achieved in the history of chess: not by Bobby Fisher, not by Garry Kasparov, not by Magnus Carlsen, who is considered the best player today. That’s what caused quite a commotion and why there’s so much talk about Faustino,” said Rosito.
The ‘Messi of chess’ obtained his first International Master title norm (once three are obtained, the actual title is given) when he was aged just nine years, 10 months and 27 days old. The record for the youngest-ever awarding of the title is held by US citizen Abhimanyu Mishra, who did it aged 10 years, nine months and 20 days. He went on to become the youngest grandmaster in history, at 12 years, four months and 25 days old.
The race is on and judging by the speed at which Faustino is progressing, no goal seems unattainable.
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