For ‘Messi of Chess’ Faustino Oro, youngest GM landmark a mere checklist item on his way to bigger things
In four days from now, a 12-year-old boy from Argentina will begin his final attempt at defying time and going where no one has ever been in chess history. Faustino Oro, fondly nicknamed the ‘Messi of Chess’ for his Argentinian roots and his mercurial rise at a young age, is just one norm away from being the world’s youngest grandmaster. None of the sport’s greatest practitioners – Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer – were this young when they became GMs. Carlsen was closest at 13, while Fischer was 15 and Kasparov 17 when they became grandmasters. D Gukesh, the youngest world champion in chess history, ran full pelt towards achieving the record. And missed by 17 days. The record is currently held by Indian-origin American GM Abhimanyu Mishra, who was 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days old when he became a grandmaster in 2021, thus lowering Sergey Karjakin’s record — which the Russian had held for 19 years — by more than two months. Oro’s final shot at making history as the …
