Faustino Oro on his way to becoming the youngest IM of all time

by Johannes Fischer
6/5/2024 – Faustino Oro is breaking records left, right and centre. In 2023, the 10-year-old Argentinian, who was born on 14 October 2013, became the youngest player ever to break the 2300 Elo mark at the age of 9. He also achieved his first IM norm earlier than anyone else and now, after another IM norm at the Continental Americas Championship 2024, he has a good chance of becoming the youngest IM of all time. | Photo: Faustino Oro at the Sunway Sitges Tournament 2023 | Photo: David Llada

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At the Continental Americas Championship 2024, which were held in Medellin, Colombia, from 24 May to 2 June, Faustino Oro finished in joint second place with 8.5 out of 11 and earned his second IM norm. With an Elo performance of 2494 points, he secured an Elo increase of 48 points and now has a virtual Elo rating of 2399. This means that the 10-year-old Argentinian is only one IM norm and one Elo point away from becoming the youngest IM of all time.

The record holder here is the American GM Abhimanyu Mishra, who secured his IM title at the age of 10 years, 9 months and 20 days. Not even two years later, Mishra became the youngest grandmaster of all time at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.

Faustino Oro proved just how talented he is, for example, when he beat Magnus Carlsen in the Bullet Brawl tournament at chess.com on 23 March 2024.

Faustino Oro crowned his strong performance at the Continental Americas Championship 2024 with a memorable victory over Georg Meier in the 11th and final round of the tournament.

Oro, Faustino23511–0Meier, Georg2607
Round 11: Oro, Faustino - Meier, Georg
lichess.org02.06.2024[Johannes Fischer]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Nc3 Rc8 10.Bg5 Qb6 11.Na4 Qa5 12.Bd2 Bb4 13.Bxb4 Qxb4 14.a3 Qe7 15.Nc3 a6 16.Qd2 0-0 17.Rad1 Na7?! Black wants to exchange pieces, but the engines do not like this move. They recommend 17...Qd8 (with the idea 18...Na5) 18.b4 f6 with a roughly equal position with chances for both sides. 18.Bd3 Bb5 19.Nxb5 Nxb5 20.Qf4 Now White gets a strong attack. Qd7 21.h4 h6 22.h5 Ne7 23.Rfe1 Na7 24.Nh2 White continues to attack and Black has problems to find adequate counterplay. Nac6 25.Ng4 Nf5 26.Bb1 Nce7
27.Nf6+! This tactical shot opens Black's kingside. gxf6 28.exf6 Ng6 Black has to return the piece. After 28...Nc6?? 29.Bxf5 exf5 30.Qg3+ Kh8 31.Qg7# Black gets mated. 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.Bxf5 Rxf6
31.Bxe6+ Rxe6 32.Qxh6 White is a pawn up and his attack is still strong. The 10-year old finishes the game energetically. Rc2 33.Rxe6 Qxe6 34.Rd3! White does not defend his pawns, but continues his attack. Rxb2 35.Rh3 Rb1+ 36.Kh2 Qd6+ 37.f4 Qf6 38.Rc3 Qd6 39.Rc8+ Kf7 40.Rc7+ A nice little tactical trick that finishes the game. Black loses the queen after 40...Qxc7 41.Qh7+, but if Black does not take the rook, he will get mated. 1–0

The 10-year-old Argentinian will soon have another chance to secure the IM title and the record. He will be competing in a round-robin tournament with 10 players from 10 to 15 June as part of the Madrid Chess Festival, where he could achieve his third and final IM norm.

Continental Americas Championship 2024 - Final standdings after 11 rounds

Rk. SNo Name Typ FED RtgI Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 10
GM Garcia Pantoja, Roberto COL 2526 9,5 2376 63,5
2 1
GM Xiong, Jeffery USA 2645 8,5 2414 70
3 3
GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal CHI 2588 8,5 2396 71
4 17
IM Ghazarian, Kirk USA 2459 8,5 2384 65
5 13
IM Wang, Justin USA 2504 8,5 2365 66,5
6 6
GM Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto CUB 2567 8,5 2352 65,5
7 11
IM Terry, Renato PER 2521 8,5 2323 64
8 39
FM Oro, Faustino U14 ARG 2351 8,5 2296 62,5
9 8
GM Corrales Jimenez, Fidel USA 2545 8,5 2266 63
10 18
GM Martinez Duany, Lelys Stanley CUB 2456 8,5 2253 63,5
11 20
IM Flores Quillas, Diego Saul Rodri PER 2431 8,5 2240 64
12 4
GM Supi, Luis Paulo BRA 2581 8 2279 63
13 22
GM Ruiz Castillo, Joshua Daniel COL 2425 8 2272 63,5
14 14
GM Salinas Herrera, Pablo CHI 2485 8 2270 64
15 25
FM Diaz Rosas, Julio Cesar MEX 2406 8 2253 64,5
16 33
IM Lu, Maximillian USA 2372 8 2250 61,5
17 32
IM Ynojosa Aponte, Felix Jose VEN 2377 8 2249 64,5
18 64
WIM Campos, Maria Jose ARG 2214 8 2234 62
19 40
IM Williams, Justus USA 2350 8 2232 61
20 23
GM Rodriguez Vila, Andres S50 URU 2417 8 2217 60,5
21 15
GM Shabalov, Alexander S50 USA 2467 8 2212 64
22 44
FM Cordoba Roa, Angel Gabriel COL 2325 8 2202 58
23 36
IM Ticona Rocabado, Licael Roderick BOL 2360 8 2049 56,5
24 7
GM Kaidanov, Gregory S65 USA 2550 7,5 2356 68,5
25 2
GM Meier, Georg URU 2607 7,5 2307 65
26 43
IM Park, Evan USA 2340 7,5 2275 64
27 42
GM Arenas, David COL 2345 7,5 2273 63,5
28 21
GM Barrientos, Sergio E COL 2425 7,5 2220 63
29 47
IM Juarez Flores, Carlos A. S50 GUA 2305 7,5 2210 59,5
30 37
FM Hidalgo Diaz, Daniel CUB 2357 7,5 2206 59,5
31 28
FM Schnaider, Ilan U14 ARG 2395 7,5 2203 61,5
32 61
FM Cadena M, Gustavo Adolfo COL 2228 7,5 2189 56,5
33 29
IM Jimenez Garcia, Emmanuel CRC 2387 7,5 2188 60,5
34 9
GM Krysa, Leandro ARG 2535 7,5 2180 61,5
35 53
WGM Francisco Guecamburu, Candela Be ARG 2292 7,5 2169 59
36 24
IM Sanchez, Sebastian Felipe COL 2406 7,5 2166 59
37 128
CM Tobar B, Carlos Andres COL 2018 7,5 2160 58
38 30
IM Bobadilla Viera, Jorge Samuel COL 2386 7,5 2125 60,5
39 56
FM Noboa Silva, Kevin ECU 2267 7,5 2086 57
40 50
IM Torres, Juan Camilo COL 2295 7,5 2074 57
41 54
IM Echavarria, Johann COL 2277 7,5 2052 55,5
42 86
Zapata Montoya, Andres Jeronimo COL 2140 7,5 2039 56,5
43 52
Aaron, Deepak USA 2293 7,5 2000 59
44 48
FM Blanco Fernandez, Lino Orlando COL 2299 7,5 1998 55,5
45 38
IM Duran Vega, Sergio CRC 2356 7,5 1981 53,5
46 27
GM Zambrana, Osvaldo BOL 2401 7 2340 69,5

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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