Tari wins tournament, Oro gets second norm

by Stefan Liebig
12/17/2025 – Faustino Oro has reached his goal: with a draw in the final round of the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli in Buenos Aires, the twelve-year-old Argentine made his second grandmaster norm. He now needs just one more norm to earn the title. Norway’s Aryan Tari won the tournament, but his strong performance was somewhat overshadowed by Oro’s chase for a GM norm. | Photos: FADA
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An unbeaten duo

Tournament winner Aryan Tari and Faustino Oro were the only two players to go through the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli without a defeat. Tari secured first place with a draw against Sandro Mareco in the final round.

Aryan Tari (top), the tournament winner, finished unbeaten and edged out Ivan Cheparinov (bottom) on tiebreak. | Photos: FADA

Cheparinov moved into shared first place with a comfortable win in the final round.

Oro played it safe in the final round. A win would have allowed him to draw level with Tari and Cheparinov, but he did not want to risk letting the GM norm slip from his grasp. Here is Faustino Oro's game against Diego Flores, whom he had lost to just days earlier at the Argentine Championship.

The Oro–Mishra race

Oro achieved a performance rating of 2608 at the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli, raising his Elo to 2516. Here are his results:

Round Snr Name Elo Country Pts. Result rtg+/-
1 9 IM Schnaider, Ilan 2402 ARG 3
1
 3,60
2 1 IM Darcyl, Tomas 2360 ARG 2
1
 3,10
3 10 GM Tari, Aryan 2636 NOR 6
½
 1,80
4 3 GM Shirov, Alexei 2610 ESP 5,5
½
 1,50
5 4 GM Slipak, Sergio 2374 ARG 3,5
½
 -1,70
6 5 GM Mareco, Sandro 2555 ARG 4
½
 0,70
7 6 GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2625 BUL 6
½
 1,70
8 7 GM Granda Zuniga, Julio E 2624 PER 4
½
 1,60
9 8 GM Flores, Diego 2567 ARG 5,5
½
 0,90

Abhimanyu Mishra now really has reason to worry about his world record. He became a grandmaster in June 2021 at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. For his “pursuer” Oro, this sets a clear deadline: he must achieve his third norm by 11 March 2026.

Final standings after round 9

Rank Name Pts.  Tb1 
1 Tari, Aryan 6 25,25
2 Cheparinov, Ivan 6 23
3 Shirov, Alexei 5,5 23,25
4 Oro, Faustino 5,5 22,25
5 Flores, Diego 5,5 21
6 Granda Zuniga, Julio E 4 18,5
7 Mareco, Sandro 4 18
8 Slipak, Sergio 3,5 14,5
9 Schnaider, Ilan 3 12
10 Darcyl, Tomas 2 7,25

Games

Chess-Results

<< GCL: Four teams tied for first place, Anand beats Gukesh
Wroclaw Open: Top seed Donchenko within striking distance >>
Topics: Alexey Shirov, Aryan Tari, Diego Flores, Faustino Oro
Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
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Will Faustino Oro make a GM norm?

12/16/2025 – High tension in Buenos Aires: with his draw against Julio Granda Zuniga, Faustino Oro stayed in contention both for the tournament victory and for the second grandmaster norm that is so important to him. A lot would have to go his way to win the tournament, but the norm is firmly in his own hands: a draw in the final round would be enough. First place is still shared, yet after Alexei Shirov’s fighting win against the former co-leader Ivan Cheparinov, Shirov and Aryan Tari have the best chances to win the tournament. | Photo: Faustino Oro at the World Cup 2025 | Photo: Michal Walusza
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Diego Flores wins Argentine Championship for an eighth time, equals Miguel Najdorf's record

12/9/2025 – Diego Flores claimed his eighth national title at the 2025 Argentine Championship, matching Miguel Najdorf's long-standing record in the event's centenary edition. The 12-player round-robin, held at Buenos Aires City Hall, saw Flores finish unbeaten with 8½/11, securing victory after a final-round draw against Federico Pérez Ponsa. Strong performances by Diego Valerga, Leonardo Tristán and 12-year-old IM Faustino Oro added further significance to this historic edition. | Photo: Argentine Chess Federation (FADA)
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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.