Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli 2025: Faustino Oro continues his pursuit of historic record

by Stefan Liebig
12/11/2025 – Chess weeks in Argentina: The national championships recently came to an end with one successful and one failed record – Diego Flores triumphed for the eighth time as Argentine champion, while Faustino Oro, who wants to become the youngest GM of all time and has till March to reach that goal, missed the GM norm. Just a few days later, both play in a tournament in Buenos Aires. At the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli, they face other Argentine talents and greats such as Alexei Shirov, Ivan Cheparinov, Julio Granda Zuniga and top seed Aryan Tari. | Photos: FADA, Mar Melero
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Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli

The Szmetan-Giardelli Magistral, which will take place in Buenos Aires from 8 to 16 December, is named in honour of two prominent Argentinian International Masters. Jorge Szmetan was one of the most influential figures in top-level South American chess for decades. He won the Argentine Championship in 1976 and regularly participated in international tournaments.

Sergio Carlos Giardelli was also an exceptional player in his time. He was considered a creative player with a strong fighting spirit. Both players have had a lasting impact on Argentine chess.

This tournament is intended as a tribute to their sporting legacy. It aims to ensure that their contributions to chess remain visible. At the same time, it provides a platform for emerging talent who aspire to follow in their footsteps. In this way, the tournament brings together the tradition and future of Argentine chess.

Faustino Oro – here at the opening ceremony of the Argentine Championship | Photo: FADA

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Faustino Oro's big goal

After Faustino Oro's pursuit of his grandmaster norm at the Argentine Championship, which was held until last weekend, failed by the narrowest of margins, he wants to try again in his home country. To make a GM norm in the Szmetan-Giardelli Magistral, he needs 5.5/9 and in the final round he will face the newly crowned Argentine champion Diego Flores.

At the Argentine Championship Flores equalled Miguel Najdorf's legendary record and won the national championship for the eighth time. Oro was neck and neck for a long time and thus above the GM norm threshold with his performance. Towards the end of the tournament, however, he seemed to run out of steam and fell back to fifth place.

His performance was still strong, but 14 points too low for the norm at 2486. By March, however, Oro wants to collect the three norms to take the record for the youngest grandmaster from the American Abhimanyu Mishra. 

The first rounds

After three rounds of the ten-player round-robin tournament, Faustino Oro and Diego Flores are tied for first place with Spanish legend Alexei Shirov. The three players have each scored two wins and one draw. Shirov and Flores drew in round 1. Oro has so far defeated the two Argentine IMs Ilan Schnaider and Tomas Darcyl. In round 3, he drew with top seed Aryan Tari.

But the arguably most interesting game of round 3 was the encounter between Cheparinov and Granda Zuniga.

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

Standings

Rk. Seed Name Nat Rtg Pts.  TB1  K rtg+/-
1 8
GM Flores, Diego ARG 2567 2,5 3,75 10 7,9
2 3
GM Shirov, Alexei ESP 2610 2,5 1,25 10 3,6
3 2
IM Oro, Faustino ARG 2503 2,5 1 10 8,5
4 6
GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL 2625 2 2,5 10 4,2
5 10
GM Tari, Aryan NOR 2636 2 2,25 10 -0,3
6 4
GM Slipak, Sergio ARG 2374 1,5 0,5 10 6
7 5
GM Mareco, Sandro ARG 2555 1 1,5 10 -2,8
8 7
GM Granda Zuniga, Julio E PER 2624 1 1,25 10 -9,1
9 1
IM Darcyl, Tomas ARG 2360 0 0 10 -6,7
9
IM Schnaider, Ilan ARG 2402 0 0 10 -11,3

Games

Links

Chess-Results

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Topics: 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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